Lillie Harris Wootton

Lillie Frances (Harris) Wootton died at age 99 on December 24, 2015 in Farmville, Virginia. Lillie Frances had been married to her husband, Brigadier General Bernard M. Wootton (USAF-Retired) for 44 years when he died on September 12, 1975.

Pearl Harbor Survivor: Mrs. Wootton was with her husband at Hickam Field when it and neighboring Pearl Harbor were bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941. She returned by military convoy to the United States and served as a civilian employee at the Pentagon for the remainder of World War II. Mrs. Wootton was a partner in her husband’s postwar Air Force career. General Wootton’s last command was of the Pacific Airways and Air Communications Service headquartered at Wheeler Air Force Base in Hawaii. He retired on July 31, 1961.

Mrs. Wootton raised her family in the Washington D.C. area from 1961 until 1971 when she and her husband retired to the Cape Canaveral area of Florida. After General Wootton’s death in 1975 she moved to Melbourne, Florida where she helped found the Suntree United Methodist Church and became active in its discipleship program where she made a deeper commitment to Christ in 1990. She also served “Meals on Wheels” and was active in Melbourne adult literacy program.

In 1992, Mrs. Wootton returned to Roanoke, Virginia where she was born on March 3, 1916. During the next 10 years she was a part of the lives of her surviving brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews. She was also active in West End Methodist Church which she began attending at birth and taught in its tutoring programs for neighborhood children.

Mrs. Wootton moved to Knollwood, a military retirement community located in Northwest Washington D.C. in 2002. She spent 11 wonderful years there and made many new friends. As was her wish, for the last year she has lived with her son and daughter-in-law on the farm outside of Farmville, Virginia where her husband grew up and where they visited often during their marriage.

Mrs. Wootton was predeceased by her husband and son, Robert L. Wootton and is survived by her son, James M. Wootton, Dillwyn, Virginia, her sister Dorothy (Harris) Briggs, Roanoke, Virginia, daughters-in-law Ellen Essert Wootton, Dillwyn, Virginia and Patricia Black Wootton of Laurens, South Carolina. In addition, Mrs. Wootton has five grandchildren: Robert L. Wootton, Jr., Carey Wootton Bernstein, Douglas Robert McKelway, Eliza Tucker McKelway and Christopher William McKelway, nine great-grandchildren and eight nieces and nephews.

There will be a public viewing on Tuesday, February 9th from 7:00 P.M. – 9:00P.M. at the Demaine Funeral Home at 520 S. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314.

A funeral service will be held for Mrs. Wootton at the Old Post Chapel, Fort Myers, Virginia at 9:00 AM on February 10, 2016 after which she will be buried with her husband in Arlington National Cemetery.

A reception following the internment will occur at the Fort Myers officers club at 10 AM.

If there any questions please contact the Demaine Funeral Home at 703-549-0074 or

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