MAX LILLY

LAMAR-A graveside service will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, at Lake Cemetery for Kenneth Max Lilly, 82, Lamar, who died late Saturday evening, Aug. 8, 2015.

Visitation will be held prior to the service, beginning at 1 p.m., at Daniel Funeral Home.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Lamar Elks Lodge.

Condolences may be shared at www.danielfuneralhome.net.

Survivors include his wife, Patti Lilly, of the home; two sisters, Helen Rogers, Mission, Kan. and Dorothy McKoy, Springfield; two daughters, Lisa Blanchard and friend, Jorge, Omaha, Neb. and Debbie Quick and husband Terry, Springfield; a grandson, David Blanchard, Baton Route, La.; three granddaughters, Melaine Blanchard, Baton Route, La., Aimee Shelton and husband Adam, Bartlesville, Okla. and Lauren Quick, Chicago, Ill.; a great-grandson, Ian Shelton and a great-granddaughter, Ava Shelton, both of Bartlesville, Okla.

He was preceded in death by a brother, Wayne Lilly.

Mr. Lilly was born July 13, 1933, on a farm northwest of Jasper, to William Jewel and Reva (Ingles) Lilly. He moved with his family to Lamar in 1948 and graduated from Lamar High School in 1951. While in school he worked at the Plaza Theater and was one of the first hired at the new Barco Drive-In. Later he worked for F.M. Thorpe Company, Caterpillar Company and Shell Pipeline. He served in the U.S. Army from 1953 through 1955. Returning home, he worked at Lawn-Boy until 1960. In 1960 he and his wife Patti started Lilly's Department Store, which they operated until retiring in 1985.

Always community minded, he had been a member of Lamar Rotary for 27 years and was awarded the Paul Harris Foundation medal. He served on the first United Way Drive, the first swimming pool committee and the Senior Citizens Housing Board. He was a charter member of Lamar Elks Lodge, where he loved playing pitch with his many Elk brothers.

He married Patti Horton on April 5, 1953.