Lillian Elmore

Lillian Nancy was born January 24, 1927 in Springfield, NJ to Lillie Mae Mathis and Elmore Worrilds. She was the first born of 7 children. As a child Lillian enjoyed drawing, particularly faces and expressions. As a teenager and young adult Lillian, affectionately known as Sister, assisted at home with her siblings and attended Antioch Baptist Church in Springfield. She developed an appreciation for poetry and prose. Lillian’s keen creative sense led her to attend Newark Arts High, a magnet school in Newark, NJ which specialized in visual and performing arts. In, 1948 she married a Navy man from North Carolina, George Elmore and resided in Plainfield, NJ where they raised four children. Lillian was a homemaker for 30 years before she entered the workforce. Her resume of employment includes companies like Westinghouse, RCA, and General Electric. Finally, Lillian closed her working career in New Jersey as a Nurse’s Aide with the Veterans Association Hospital in Lyons, NJ. While working at Lyons VA hospital, Lillian’s sense for helping others awakened her entrepreneurial interests and she started a business transporting employees to and from the hospital. After 15 years she retired from the VA, purchased a house and moved to Jacksonville, FL. In Jacksonville, Lillian returned to her love of the arts and once again, at 73 years of age she reentered the workforce. Lillian was hired at the Mary Singleton Center as a ceramic instructor where she taught her students, most of which were her age or older, how to mold and paint figurines of all shapes. She was a dedicated worker for 10 years, 3 days a week. Lillian relished the company of her family and was a major source of encouragement to her children and anyone else that came in contact with her. She was a friendly jokester and could spark up a conversation with anyone that dared to reply. Lillian loved the outdoors, gardening, flowers and an occasional Bud. During her leisure she enjoyed playing card games, watching a good detective show and framing beautiful 1000 piece jigsaw puzzles after she meticulously put them together. She was not a shopper however in her ladder years she enjoyed short road trips to various historical sites often accompanied by friends and chauffeured by her middle son, DeWayne.

Lillian was preceded in death by her husband George Elmore, her two brothers Elmore Worrilds Jr, Richard Bernard (Sunny) Worrilds and her sister Delphine (Dolly) Pierce. She leaves to cherish loving memories four children, Kasib Abdullah (Bambade), DeWayne Elmore (Linda), Carol Presley (Douglas) and Linda Sims Fitzgerald (John), three sisters’; Pat Brown, Susan Gillette (William), and Elaine Haith, Seven grandchildren; Kasib Duane Abdullah (Laurita), Tariq Abdullah (LaDonna), Nia Abdullah, Salahudin Abdullah, Kerryn Gaines (Clifford), Tyrell Sims, and Kia Presley, seven great grandchildren; Mia, Hanif, Asha, Kimora, Najaa, Zara Abdullah and Faith Gaines, nieces and nephews: Lolita Hargrove (Timmy), Denise Evans, Mark Gillette, Glen and Kyle Haith (Karetha), Jerome Caldwell and a host of family and friends.

Visitation will be held Sunday, October 29, 2017 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Chapel Hills Funeral Home, 850 St. Johns Bluff Road N. Jacksonville, FL 32225.

Funeral Services will be held Sunday, October 29, 2017 at 11:00 a.m. in Chapel Hills Funeral Home, 850 St. Johns Bluff Road N. Jacksonville, FL 32225.

Arrangements are under the care and direction of Chapel Hills Funeral Home & Cemetery, 850 St. Johns Bluff Road N. Jacksonville, FL 32225.