Louise Averette Pilcher, 91, died Saturday, October 18, 2014, at her son’s Tifton residence. Her funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, October 21, 2014, in the Chapel of Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals with Rev. Benjy Varnell and Rev. Lonnie Lacey officiating. Mrs. Pilcher will be laid to rest at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Tuesday, October 21, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. until the hour of the service at Bowen-Donaldson Home for Funerals.
Mrs. Pilcher’s grandsons will serve as pallbearers.
Mrs. Pilcher was born on November 15, 1922 in Marion County to Roland Dewey Averette and Lizzie Lou Shaw Averette, both deceased. She resided in Sumter, Webster and Worth counties and was graduated from Sumner High School in 1940. She attended Macon Hospital’s nursing school and worked at Smith Hospital in Americus.
Mrs. Pilcher was preceded in death by her first husband, T/Sgt. Ivan Pershing Johnson, who was killed in action in northern France on January 6, 1945. They were married on October 26, 1941 and had two children, Betty Louise and Ivan Randolph.
Mrs. Pilcher married William E. Pilcher on February 25, 1949. Mr. Pilcher was a 30-year veteran of the United States Air Force. Their marriage lasted 63 years until his death on October 21, 2012. She made a home for her family at military postings across the United States and Europe, raising her family, often on her own, while her husband was away during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
While living in Albany, Mrs. Pilcher and her late husband helped organize the local chapter of the Association of Retarded Citizens, working to enrich the lives of special needs children. She was a devoted wife and mother, caring for her developmentally disabled son for 43 years, while at the same time, providing a loving home for her aging mother. After relocating to Lithonia, she volunteered for more than 20 years for DeKalb County Special Olympics.
Her favorite pastimes were bowling, playing bridge, reading cookbooks and vacationing at Mexico Beach. Mrs. Pilcher was a gracious and generous hostess for military functions, family dinners and reunions at her Lake Blackshear home. She enjoyed traveling to Air Force squadron reunions around the country. She was an avid reader until her eyesight failed.
When Mrs. Pilcher relocated to Tift from DeKalb County in 2002, she joined Tifton’s First United Methodist Church and the Christian and Fellowship Sunday school classes. She was also a member of Circle 8. She walked humbly with God; she kept the faith.
Her family will remember her for her generosity and compassion to those with special needs. She gave freely of her time to her family, community and church. She left the world a better place because of the way she lived her life.
Mrs. Pilcher was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands and a sister, Eudora Mallard of Americus and son-in-law, Robert F. Morrell. She is survived by a brother and sister-in-law, Roland Boyette and Nell Averette of Sylvester; and by one daughter, three sons and two daughters-in-law, Betty Pilcher Morrell of Tifton, Ivan Randolph and Sharon Pilcher of Ozark, Alabama, William Herbert and Darlene Pilcher of Tifton and Bruce Alan Pilcher of Thomasville. Her grandchildren are Jeff Morrell of Columbia, South Carolina, Jimmy Morrell of Bartow County, Rob Morrell of Brunswick, Jason Pilcher of Wetumpka, Alabama, Tim Pilcher of Dothan, Alabama, Mark Pilcher of Montgomery, Alabama, Kari Palmer of Canton and Fawn Collingwood of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. She also leaves 12 great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren.
The family thanks all those who provided around-the-clock care for Mrs. Pilcher.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to Tifton’s First United Methodist Church, 107 West 12th Street, Tifton, GA 31794; Georgia Special Olympics, 4000 DeKalb Technology Parkway, Suite 44, Building 400, Atlanta, GA 30340; or to Hospice of Tiftarea, P. O. Box 747, Tifton, GA 31793.