Lillian Anne Yeatts

Lillian Anne Yeatts, lover of nature, renowned seamstress of quilts, blankets, worn-out children’s clothes and torn GI Joe uniforms, a woman who believed in her four children and inspired them to take chances in life, died October 19 at Piedmont Athens Regional. She was 87.

Born Lillian Haller in Humboldt, Saskatchewan, on Labor Day, September 5, 1938, Lillian grew up in a Hungarian immigrant farming community, in a prairie home with no electricity or running water.

In her autobiography, The Saskatchewan Lily, Lillian described the responsibility as the oldest child to watch over her siblings, once having to walk a mile in the snow to get help after the horse-drawn caboose they took to school became stuck and threatened to tip over in the wind. She was 11. “I don’t know how I managed to do all that,” she wrote, detailing how she unhitched the large horses with her tiny hands. “Maybe I had divine intervention from the wind angels.” She stopped going to school after the seventh grade to help with her family’s income.

In 1960, Lillian married James Travis and, in 1968, moved to Athens, GA, where her husband taught biochemistry at the University of Georgia. Once her last child was in school, Lillian decided to do the same. She earned her GED and enrolled at UGA, graduating cum laude with a degree in education. She married her second husband, Joseph Yeatts, at Callaway Gardens near Columbus, GA. He predeceased her in 2017. James Travis died in 2020. Lillian also once served as regional director of the Clarke County Mental Health Association and was active in quilting groups in two states where her stitchery skills are legendary to this day.

A longtime member of the Catholic Center, Lillian also stayed involved through the church's Social Graces fellowship group. On Sunday evenings, you could usually find her at church cooking for hungry UGA students. Lillian loved flowers. Wherever she lived, her house was surrounded, protected even, by color. Lillian’s most recent passion was serving as Area Director for Project Linus, a charity connected to the Catholic Center Creative Hands Ministry. Volunteers sew and distribute blankets to children and adults in need. Lillian truly loved that cause.

Lillian is survived by her four children, Randy Travis (Joan), Teri Lynn Travis, David Travis (Lynsey; first wife, Susan), and Joey Travis (Jeanne); six grandchildren, Kathryn Miller (Stuart), Amelia Braden (Luke), Samantha Travis, Ben Travis, Julia Travis, and Jessica Travis; and one great-grandson, Augustus Travis.

She is also survived by two sisters, Vi Cyr (Emile) of Parksville, British Columbia, and Grace Irmen (Irv) of Stoney Plain, Alberta.

A Funeral Mass will be held November 24 at 11:30 AM at the Catholic Center in Athens. Attendees are invited to bring a quilt or blanket, either made by Lillian or inspired by her.

Instead of flowers, donations should be made to a Project Linus chapter near you: https://www.projectlinus.org/chapters/index.php?state=GA#tgt