Lila Faye Johnson, 91, of Llano died June 3, 2016

Lila Faye Johnson passed away peacefully June 3, 2016, at her home in Llano, Texas. She was 91 years old. Lila was born Aug. 18, 1924, at home in Birthwright, Texas.

A memorial service is 10 a.m. June 9 at Waldrope-Hatfield-Hawthorne Funeral Home, 307 E. Sandstone in Llano, (325) 247-4300. Email whhfuneral1@verizon.net with condolences.

She grew up in Peerless, Texas, where her father, Floyd Milligan, ran a cotton gin. Her mother, Mildred (Gardener) Milligan, passed away when she was 12, so her grandparents Sam and Sally Milligan helped raise her.

Lila was baptized Church of Christ as a child. She attended school in Sulphur Springs and graduated early at 17. She left Sulphur Springs and went to St. Paul’s Hospital School of Nursing in Dallas, against her family’s wishes. She graduated with an associate’s degree as a registered nurse and then went into the Army Corp of Cadet Nurses during World War II.

After the war was over, she moved to Llano to live with family and work.  She worked at several hospitals. The first, Sheppard Hospital in Burnet and the original Llano Hospital, located where the radio station is presently. She did private duty nursing in both Llano and San Antonio. She was the only RN when Llano Memorial Hospital was built. This required her to be on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week for many years. She was the director of nursing, charge nurse, staff nurse and surgical nurse. She was an integral part of the hospital for more than 25 years. She absolutely loved her job.

She taught LVN classes for 20 years and encouraged many of her students to acquire further education in order to become RNs. She definitely had a strong work ethic, which influenced her students and children.  She was named First Lady of the Year by Alpha Delta Zeta Sorority of Beta Sigma Phi and earned many other civic awards. Lila and her husband, Sid, had pecan plaques, ribbons and awards from their Pecan Farm too numerous to count.

Lila greatly loved sewing, embroidery, crocheting, reading books and her Kindle, crossword puzzles, PECANS, gardening, traveling and spoiling her grandchildren. Her favorite color was red. She traveled to all but two (Alaska and Hawaii) of the 50 states plus Canada in an RV with her sister during the 1990s. She loved traveling, taking lots of pictures and collecting spoons from every state visited.

She met her husband, Sid Johnson, at the post office, where he worked. The post office was located at the other end of the block from where it is now. They were married on Aug. 3, 1947, at First Presbyterian Church on Ford Street in Llano. Lila and Sid were married for 43 years until his death in 1991.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Sid Johnson; father, Floyd Milligan; mother, Mildred Gardener Milligan; stepmothers, June Milligan and Blanche Milligan; baby brother, Billy Don Milligan; many aunts, uncles and cousins; and many, many wonderful friends.

She also was preceded in death by her grandparents, Sam A. Milligan, Sarah “Sally” Huckeba Milligan, Francis Marion Gardner (World War I) and Elizabeth Rowell; great-grandparents, William W. Milligan, Mary Elizabeth Wilhite Milligan, John Luke Huckeba, Josephine Murdock Huckeba; great-great-grandparents, Houston Milligan, Mary Canada Milligan, Washington Green Huckeba (Civil War) Marty Patsy Gibson; and great-great-grandparents Archibald Lacy (Revolutionary War), Sally Martin, Benjamin Liddon (colonel during the Revolutionary War) and Sarah Rutledge Liddon.

Lila is survived by daughters Celia Johnson Griffin and husband¸Steve Griffin of Llano and Cynthia Eversole and husband Dr. Galen Eversole of Denison; granddaughter, Dr. Candace Schoppe and husband Dr. Kurt Schoppe of Grapevine; grandson, Matt Mancino and wife Tara Mancino of Fort Worth; step-grandsons, Grant Griffin and wife Lezlie of Bedford and Chris Griffin of Euless; great-granddaughter, who was named for her, Lila Grace Schoppe; step-granddaughter, Mahi Griffin; step-grandsons, Jonah and Everett Griffin; nephews Joel Scholz and wife Bonnie and Joe Johnson of Kingsland; sister, Frankie Cowsert and son Jeff Cochran of Llano; half-sisters Gale Milligan of Peerless and Mary Milligan Lyles of Katy; and many other nephews and nieces.

Thank you to Texas Home Health Hospice and especially to her caregiver, Mariea Hawkias, for living with Lila for the past few months and providing her love, care and smiles.

Donations may be made to the Llano County Library for Lila’s great love of reading.