Lillian (Widmayer) Pappas

Lillian Julia (Widmayer) Pappas

1919 - 2018

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Obituary of Lillian Julia (Widmayer) Pappas

Lillian Julia (Widmayer) Pappas, 98, of Kingsport, TN, passed away peacefully at Nova Health and Rehab Center in Weber City, VA, on April 5, 2018. Born on October 13, 1919, in Upham, ND to Phillip and Hulda (Zeretzke) Widmayer, she moved with her parents and three older sisters to Arlington, WA in 1934 to escape the deprivations caused by the dust bowl. After graduating from high school in 1939, she lived and worked in Seattle, supporting herself by working at Crescent Mfg. Co. until she met Ted Pappas at a dance. They married in 1952, built their first home on Beacon Hill overlooking Seattle, and had two daughters. Their life together took them to Colorado, Ohio, and finally California, enjoying 41 years of marriage before Ted passed away in 1993.

Together they liked to spend time on road trips to visit relatives all across the country, camping, fishing, bowling, and playing bingo. Lillian was a homemaker who could play the piano & accordion, sew much of her family’s clothes, as well as clothes for her daughter’s dolls, and she crocheted beautifully.

One of Lillian’s more significant contributions was successfully instilling her love of reading and libraries into the lives of her daughters. This generational gift has been carried on by her grandchildren, even producing one librarian out of the bunch. A comparable inspiration was her love of photography, which produced countless treasured photo albums and slides.

She moved back to the Seattle area in 1996 where she bought a condo and resumed her love of dancing. She picked it up without skipping a beat right where she left off over forty years earlier, and continued for the next eighteen years. In 2014 she moved to Kingsport, TN to live near her daughter Debra and granddaughters Genevieve and Rachel, who lovingly cared for her during her final years.

Lillian was preceded in death by just about every family member. She is survived by her two daughters: Debra Lively, of Kingsport, TN, and Nancy (Terry) Fike of Cashmere, WA; Five Granddaughters: Genevieve Lively, Rachel (David) Reynolds, Audra (Abe) Pavon, Emily (Adam) Cliffton, Elyse (Tyler) Hargrove; One Grandson: Tanner (Dina) Fike; And Nine Great Grandsons!

There will be no service, however, she will soon be laid to rest at Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, WA, next to her beloved husband Ted.

Carter Trent/Scott County Funeral Home is serving the Pappas Family.

 

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We are deeply sorry for your loss ~ the staff at Scott County Funeral Home - Weber City