Koleta Tilson

Dr. Koleta Sue Baker Tilson, age 86, passed away peacefully in Oak Ridge, TN on September 30, 2025 after a long period of declining health. She was born in Nashville, TN on July 2, 1939 to Orville Lenehan and Hazel O’Neal Baker. She attended many schools as the family moved from Nashville to Chattanooga to Bridgeport to Kingston before returning to Chattanooga. These early experiences planted the seeds for her eventual career as an educator. In high school, Koleta picked up the French horn and found an instrument for a lifetime of music-making. She attended Tennessee Polytechnic Institute (now Tennessee Tech University) where she excelled at music and writing. After graduation, she served her community teaching both Instrumental Music and English.

Koleta loved learning, and took every opportunity to study and expand her knowledge. After her initial years as a teacher, she returned to school to earn a Master’s degree at ETSU. She then re-entered the K-12 system as a librarian, first at Sullivan Gardens Elementary and then at Sullivan Central High School. During her time at ETSU, she was one of the early enrollees in computing classes, learning how to program with punch cards. In her subsequent years as a librarian, she was passionate about applying her learnings to advance her field, and built, with her students and the community, one of the first digital high school library databases in the region. She was also instrumental in getting the county library systems in Northeast Tennessee digitized. She continued her studies each summer, earning first an Ed.S. (UT Knoxville) and then a Doctorate in Education (Ed.D. ETSU).

In addition to her career accomplishments, Koleta was a longtime member of the First Presbyterian Church in Kingsport, the FPC Choir, the Kingsport Community Band, the Kingsport Symphony Orchestra, and other musical ensembles.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Kathryn, brother Kenneth, her husband Jewell and his son Dwight.

She is survived by her brother Douglas Baker (Cissy), her son John (Ellen), her stepdaughter Debra Tilson Gill (Charles); grandson Alexander Martyn Tilson (Breanna), granddaughters Ashley Tilson Gill (Jason) and Laura Gill Spearman (Chad); and great-grandchildren Cedric, Levi, Charles, Reed, and Tilson.

All services will be held privately.

East Lawn Funeral Home and Memorial Park is honored to serve the family of Dr. Koleta Tilson.