Melvin Clayton Tilley

Melvin Clayton Tilley, 91, of Andover, KS, passed away Friday, December 19, 2025 in Augusta, KS. A celebration of life will be Saturday, January 17, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. at Hope Community Church, Andover, KS. Melvin was born in Duncan, OK on July 27, 1934, to the late Susan Alice (Towell) and James Walter Tilley. He worked as an Engineer Aide at Beech Aircraft for 48 years. After retiring in 2000, he worked for Enterprise Rental Car as a driver for 13 years. On June 26,1955 he married the love of his life, Margaret Ann (Harder), who he had met when they had worked in the same department at Beech, and they enjoyed raising their four children. Before her death in January 2017, they enjoyed traveling & camping, setting foot in all 50 states, treating four granddaughters to a Mexican cruise, taking their two daughters on an adventure to the Bahamas, and traveling to Europe together. Melvin enjoyed slow pitch softball, spending many years playing, coaching & umpiring. Melvin took an interest in quilting and after being taught how to quilt by his sister & brother-in-law, he enjoyed making several quilts for friends & family. In his later years, Melvin enjoyed writing short stories on Facebook about people, places & events he had encountered in his life, then turned them into three books, The Misplaced Okie, Lone Wolf, and Foxtrot, which he shared with friends and family. About his books, he always said they were 1/3 truth, 1/3 exaggerated, and 1/3 lies & it was up to the reader to decide what was what. Melvin is survived by daughter, Marilyn Martin and husband Steve of Andover; grandchildren, Margaret Sides, Jennifer McCain (Seth), Tiffany Jackson, Staci Martin, Christopher Cooper-Martin (Kate), and Paige Graham (Tyler); great grandchildren, Jacob Evans, MJ Sides, Lizzy and Trey McCain, Olivia Jackson, Jude Cooper-Martin, and Greyson Tilley; sister-in-law, May Tilley, brother-in-law, Bill Gale (Karen); and a host of nieces & nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, Margaret; sons, Mickey and Marvin; daughter, Marlene Erwin; grandson, Christopher Tilley; brothers, Doyle, Lloyd and G.L. Tilley; and sisters, Lucille Holloway and Ernestine Pitts. Memorial donations may be made to Alzheimer's Association, 535 W Douglas Ave. Suite 150 Wichita, KS 67213, in memory of his daughter, Marlene.