On Sunday, February 17, 2019, Patti Tillson, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, daughter and sister, passed away in Houston, Texas. Patti was born on February 25, 1956 to L.D. and Lydia Lafferty in Houston, Texas. Patti graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in psychology; earned a Masters Degree in Mass Communications from the University of Houston; and, earned her Licensed Marital And Family Therapist accreditation from Our Lady of the Lake University.
Patti was blessed with many talents and interests. She was as much a fierce competitor playing tennis as she was an angel singing and playing piano. She had a love for learning and especially enjoyed reading books that explored theology and spirituality. She also always made time for the latest Jack Reacher adventure. Her greatest pleasure came from being a mother to her daughter, Erica Jade. She also had a full and varied career which included such interesting jobs as being a principal in the creation and roll-out of the 1986 “Houston Proud” campaign and later becoming the alumni relations director for South Texas College of Law. But it was in her role as a family therapist that she fully realized her life’s calling.
Patti loved Saint Mary’s Episcopal Church, Cypress where she was equally happy acting in a leadership role with the church vestry or teaching high school youth on Sundays or tending in solitude the numerous church gardens. It’s also true that Patti was dealt more than her fair share of unlucky cards regarding her physical health, but she played them to the hilt. She will be missed immensely but never forgotten by those who knew and were touched by her grace and love.
Patti is survived by her husband and best friend Jim, her daughter Erica Jade and granddaughter Penelope Jade as well as her mother Lydia, sister Diana, brother Dow, nieces Vanessa and Alana and nephew Alex.
A memorial service will be held Monday February 25 at 11:00 AM at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, 15415 North Eldridge Parkway in Cypress, Texas, 77429. A reception will follow at the church.
Those wishing to make donations in her memory are urged to send them to either the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation or the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
