Ann Abernathy Tilley

Ann Marie Abernathy Tilley, 90, died peacefully in her home Monday afternoon. Mrs. Tilley was born March 10, 1931 in Spring Hope, North Carolina to George William and Arcessia Dew Abernathy. She graduated from Chapel Hill High School where she won the Kiwanis Club’s Citizenship Award for general helpfulness, leadership, and participation in extracurricular activities. She was a sports enthusiast and played multiple sports including point guard for her high school basketball team. She attended the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro where she graduated with a degree in Recreation. After college she worked in western North Carolina before moving to Raleigh to become Director of Physical Education and Recreation at Dorothea Dix Hospital, where she met her husband of 57 years. She was a member of the Woman’s Club of Raleigh and an active member of Trinity Baptist Church. Ann Tilley was a devoted wife, loving mother, grandmother, and friend who will be missed dearly.

Funeral services will be conducted Friday, May 28th at 1:00 PM at Trinity Baptist Church. The family will receive friends at the church to celebrate her life from noon-1:00 PM prior to the service.

Mrs. Tilley was pre-deceased by husband Ernest, her parents, her brother Hubert, and her sisters Alma, Elsie, Irma, and Carrie Lee. She is survived by her sons Steve and David, daughter-in-law Megan, three grandsons Matthew, Michael, and Caleb, one great grandson Brooks, and her loving caretakers Cayla and Jennifer.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be made to the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation and the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.

Arrangements with Brown-Wynne Funeral Home.