Louise Adeline Bowne Cilley
Personal
Gender: Female
Date of Birth: April 3, 1920
Date of Death: January 17, 2011
Birth Place: Newark, NJ
Death Place: Galveston, TX
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Louise Adeline Cilley |
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Louise Cilley was born in Newark, New Jersey on April 3, 1920 and passed into eternal rest on January 17, 2011. She grew up during the depression and always valued her family. She had many roles as a wife, mother, and grandmother in her ninety years. Louise will be remembered for influencing us all to be more civil and less judgmental about getting on with the business of life. She was married to the late Right Reverend Roger Cilley with whom she had two children, the late Richard Clark Cilley and Barbara Louise Cilley Bledsoe. Her family includes two grandchildren, Andy and Meredith Bledsoe, two in-laws, Barbara Cilley and Billy Bledsoe, her “other daughter” and niece Janis Schiro and husband, Michael, as well as a special family friend Ella Mae Netherly. She attended Centenary College and New York University with a major in drama. She and Roger acted in summer stock theater in New York and had many fond memories of those plays. Louise and Roger migrated to Texas so Roger could teach drama at the University of Texas at Austin and Louise also taught drama and later worked for the Dean of Fine Arts at U.T. After teaching, Roger was called to the Episcopal ministry and Louise was with him every step of the way. They began in College Station where Roger was a chaplain for A&M, then on to congregations in Angleton and Galveston. They resided longest at Trinity Church in Galveston. Louise loved living along the Gulf and painting pictures of the waves in oil or acrylic. As the wife of an Episcopal priest and later a bishop, she dealt with the many details involved in the life of a congregation. She was most proud to be a longtime member of the Daughters of the King. She considered her congregation her extended family. As her late husband would say, “You can’t fake being there” and she always was. After Roger became a bishop, she traveled all over Texas helping him to minister to many congregations while they lived in Houston and Austin. She had countless stories about what they saw and experienced on the road. Louise spent many hours of her life volunteering for charities and assisting several church groups with their projects. Later in life she tutored elementary school children who needed extra help. Her family and friends will miss her steady presence and abiding love. Services for Louise will be at Trinity Episcopal Church in Galveston at 2:00 p.m. on Friday, January 21, 2011, with Father John Donovan and Reverend William Fowler officiating. Burial will follow at the Episcopal Cemetery in Galveston. J. Levy & Termini Funeral Home 2128 Broadway Galveston, Texas 409-763-4621 Published in Austin American-Statesman on January 20, 2011 |
Louise Adeline Bowne Cilley