Lillian Rowan

It is with deep sorrow we announce the death of our loving wife, mother, aunt, sister-in-law, and friend, Lillian Ida Wildberger Rowan, who left us peacefully on June 6, 2025, after 98 well-lived years. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia on February 3, 1927 to Ida Koppe Wildberger and Ernest Henry Wildberger, graduated from Atlanta Girls High in 1945, and she married James Thomas Rowan on February 27, 1946. Her children are James Thomas, Jr. born September 28, 1951 and Julie Faye born July 3, 1955, and she was blessed with one granddaughter, Kyle Rowan Abbott, born on January 18, 1987.

When Mom became your friend, you were a friend for life. Hard to believe now but Mom was shy when in grammar school. Early in life, she decided that she needed to learn to talk to people, so by the time she was in high school she had come out of her shell. When she was seven, she met her lifelong friend, Snooky Grizzard. Best-friend-Snooky later married Ben Wilson, and the two couples became inseparable, lifelong friends. Their relationship shaped her whole life with all their children growing up together like family. The group spent many summers on Lake Rabun; first in a tiny cabin and later at a home that she and Tom built on the lake. One of Snooky's daughters considered Mom her aunt. Every Summer, she and Tom hosted St. John's Lutheran Church Pastor Mark Scott, his wife and their three girls for a week of Lake Rabun activities. The house was almost always full of laughter, food, and joy.

Mom was passionate about keeping up with her friends and family. She even called her friends on a weekly schedule. She attended family reunions until her health didn't allow it. She would meet people in Walmart and they would want to get her phone number to call her later. One of Julie's friends said that when she met Mom for the first time, they connected as if they had known each other forever. We didn't tell her that everyone that meets Mom thinks she has a special connection to them. She had all the time in the world when you came to visit her, and had a special way of making you feel like you were the only one in the world. In that moment, you and your needs were more important than anything else.

One Proverb (31:26) always reminds us of her: She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. Mom was a devout Christian her whole life, and as soon as the church allowed, she was confirmed at an early age into the Christian religion. Her social life from birth was the church. Starting with St. John's Lutheran church in Atlanta Georgia, a church in which her grandfather was a founding member. After moving to Huntsville when Tom was hired as an engineer for the NASA Apollo program, she became an active member of Holmes Street United Methodist church. There, she developed a wonderful group of friends who picnicked together, sometimes spending the day at Guntersville lake skiing and enjoying each other's company. Panama City Beach, Florida was a winter retreat for her and Tom to enjoy and make their summers at lake Rabun even more rewarding, and for many years they enjoyed attending First United Methodist church with their fellow Snowbird friends.

Most summer Sundays when her granddaughter Kyle was a child, she would accompany her Grandparents to Clayton Methodist boat church, singing church hymns and swimming in the lake. After church the three of them would have breakfast together and Kyle and Mom spent the afternoons playing make believe with Barbie dolls and making tuna salad sandwiches with thick slices of fresh tomato from the garden and the crusts cut off.

She never wavered and was always steadfast to her faith for her entire life. Mom enjoyed Bible study with a group of wonderful ladies who met once a week. At her home in Cannonwood village, she always got dressed up: fixing her hair, makeup, and jewelry in time to attend their Bible study. This faith led her through all of the challenges and blessings in her life. And she was determined. She never quit. Starting with enduring painful mastoid surgery as a young child and, at age 14, dealing with the social isolation that went hand-in-hand with a polio diagnosis in the 1940's. At one point in her life she was simultaneously facing her daughter Julie's childhood paralysis and her own mother's stroke. During this trying time, she prayed for God to help her. With the prayer, she felt a sense of calm wash over her, and from that day forward, she never worried about any of her challenges because "It was in God's hands." Later she dreamed she heard a voice say to her, "your vessel is full," which she interpreted to mean she was Blessed and would be provided everything she would need for the rest of her life. Turns out she was in fact blessed with a very long and very happy life.

Lillian's greatest joys were her church, family, friends and garden activities, and we believe that the world will be a better place if we can adopt Mom's positive approach to life.

She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, her parents and her brother, Ernest C. Wildberger. She is survived by her son and his wife, Pat Rowan, and her daughter and her husband, Hal Taylor, and her granddaughter and her husband, Michael Abbott.

Family and friends will gather at A. S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home & Crematory, 2773 N Decatur Rd. Decatur, GA 30030, Monday June 16, 2025 for a light hors d'oeuvres reception from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM, visitation will be from 12:00 PM until 1:00 PM. Funeral Service will follow in the Chapel beginning at 1:00 PM. Interment will follow in Crest Lawn Cemetery, 2000 Marietta Boulevard Northwest, Atlanta, Georgia 30318.

The family would like to thank the staff at Cannonwood Village in Tiger, Georgia for lovingly caring for mom for seven years. There will be a celebration of life at Cannonwood in Tiger, Georgia in about a week.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital or Wiley Presbyterian Church.