Vivian Tilley

Vivian Tilley, 91, of Belle Plaine and Le Sueur, died with family on Monday, March 2, 2015. Visitation will be Friday, March 6 from 4:00-7:00 p.m. at the Kolden Funeral Home in Le Sueur. Funeral service will be 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 7, at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Le Sueur, with visitation one hour prior to the service. A private family burial will be at a later date at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis. Vivian was born on October 20, 1923 to Freda (Meuler) and Henry Vinz in Spencer, South Dakota. She lived on the Vinz family farm, was baptized and confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church, attended a one-room grade school, and graduated valedictorian from Spencer High School. She studied at Dakota Wesleyan University School of Nursing in Mitchell, SD, before marrying Verle Tilley on April 3, 1944 in Glendale, California. In 1946 they returned to Spencer to farm until their move to Le Sueur in 1950. Vivian co-farmed with Verle for 22 years, while raising seven children and working full-time as a lab technician at Green Giant, and attending Mankato State University. She was a member of Grace Lutheran Church and the Women of Grace guild, sang in the choir and taught Sunday School. Vivian raised her children and grand-children with tender, loving care, teaching them to appreciate faith and family, to care for the less fortunate, to be guardians of the earth, to be thrifty, and to use their talents to create beautiful things and a better world. An artist and scientist at heart, she was a very joyful person, who played, laughed and loved easily, and saw beauty all around her. It was very important to her to donate her eyes to the MN Lion's Eye Bank. She is survived by children Barry (Donna) Tilley, Inver Grove Heights; Ron (Cherie) Tilley, Australia; Ann (George) Dubovich, Andover; Dean (Mary) Tilley, Marine on St. Croix; Julie Tilley, St. Paul; Nancy Tilley, Colorado; daughter-in-law Mary Tilley, Michigan; special niece Farrand Anderson, Edina; 17 grandchildren and 21 great-grandchildren; and siblings Warren Vinz, Joyce Tellijohn, Linda Sieverding, David Vinz, Duane Vinz, Betty Vinz, Brian Vinz, Celeste Mokros. Preceded in death by the love of her life, husband Verle, her beloved son Dick, parents, and 6 siblings.

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