Mary Belle Lyons

She was born March 17, 1931 in Flora, IL to Jesse and Velma (King) Harrison. She married William C. “Bill” Lyons on November 30, 1952. He preceded her in death on August 8, 2007. Her parents, one brother, Carl D. Harrison and one sister, L. Maxine Bailey Williams also preceded her in death.

Surviving are her two sons, Cal (Joni) Lyons of Eureka and Kevin Lyons of Peoria; three grandchildren, Callie (David) Jayne of Washington, IL, Cara (Joel) Fulkerson of Bartlett, IL and Julie Lyons of Springfield, MO; four great-grandchildren, Audrey Claire Jayne, Lydia Paige Jayne, Ezra Anthony Fulkerson and Annie Joy Fulkerson. Also surviving is one brother, James T. Harrison of Salem, OH and James E. (Tammy) Dalrymple of Palm Harbor, FL, who she treated as a son.

Mary Belle worked for Illinois Bell and AT&T for over 35 years before retiring in 1988 as a Dispatch Controller. She was a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America, I.B.E.W. Local 34, she was an avid and longtime volunteer at Peoria Neighborhood House, volunteered weekly at Bel-Wood Nursing Home for 15 years, and was remembered for her involvement with the Hanna City grade school PTA, as a Cub Scout Den Mother and as a Sheriff’s tour guide at the Peoria County Jail.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, June 14, 2012 from 5 to 7 pm at Davison-Fulton-Woolsey-Wilton Funeral Home. A service will be Friday, June 15, 2012 at 10:00 am at the Funeral Home, tributes and eulogies will be offered by the family and Chaplain Steve Drennan will officiate. Burial will follow the service at Swan Lake Memory Gardens in Peoria.

Memorials may be made to the charities that she loved, Neighborhood House or to the Southside Mission. Please visit Mary Belle’s story at www.woolsey-wilton.com.