LaVera Tillman

Mrs. LaVera Marissa Tillman, of Rockford, Illinois, went to rest in the Lord on Friday, May 15, 2026. She was born on October 26, in Palm Beach County, Florida, to Nathaniel George Higgs II and Pauline Elizabeth (Emanuel) Higgs. At an early age the family moved to Pennsylvania and later to New Jersey. LaVera graduated from Salem High School in Salem, New Jersey, and was immediately employed by the Allegheny Conference of Seventh-day Adventists (now known as the Allegheny East Conference) as an office secretary. She later was called to serve as the registrar for Pine Forge Institute (now known as Pine Forge Academy), where she was respected, admired, and loved by staff and students. It was during her employment at Pine Forge Institute, while chaperoning a senior class trip to Oakwood College, that she met her husband, James I. Tillman.

In 1960, LaVera moved to Rockford, Illinois, to join her husband, and they both became members of the Rockford Seventh-day Adventist Church, where she served in several capacities throughout the years, many of those years as the church clerk. She also served as a deaconess and a member of the Dorcas Society. She was employed by Northern Illinois Professional Standards Review Organization and retired after many years from Swedish American Hospital, where she was the sole staff member for the Office of Medical Education.

LaVera was a founding financial supporter for the Belvidere Seventh-day Adventist Church, and served as a pianist, a role she loved and filled for many years until her health failed.

LaVera and James were blessed with forty-one years of marriage. She enjoyed the kitchen, trying new recipes, collecting cookbooks, entertaining family, friends, and several medical students who became family friends as they passed through her home and the halls of Swedish American Hospital. She enjoyed sewing, crocheting, ceramics, reading, and playing the piano. She will be remembered for her loving spirit, her kindness, and her faith, all of which she freely shared with family, friends, and many strangers who later became close, dear family friends.

LaVera leaves to treasure her memory: siblings, Dr. Nathaniel Higgs III and Dr. Kamalee Williams, her children, Kimberly (Warren) Boykin, and twins, Keith (Ellen) Tillman and Kevin Tillman; grandchildren, Joshua Kyle Boykin, Sarah Elizabeth (Mitchell) Luebke, Tiffany (Adam Garner) Champion, LaTaunya Beth Tillman, LaShanda Tillman, James Tillman II, Jacquelyn Tillman, Alexzundra Tillman, and Bre Anne Tillman, four great-grandchildren, along with several nieces, nephews and numerous loving friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband, James Tillman; children, Baby Boy and Baby Girl Tillman; parents, Nathaniel and Pauline Higgs; and siblings, Vernita Higgs Watts, Rosalee Brannan Higgs, and Charles Brannan Higgs.

Visitation for LaVera Tillman will be held at Sunset Funeral Home, 8800 N. Alpine Road, Machesney Park, IL, on Thursday, June 4, 2026, from 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., with funeral services immediately following. Interment will be on Friday, June 5, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. at Sunset Memorial Gardens, 8800 N. Alpine Rd, Machesney Park, IL 61115.

Instead of flowers, the family would appreciate donations made to the WOUNDEDWARRIORPROJECT.ORG.