Fanny Lou Lilly, 81

Fanny Lou Lilly, 81 of Pahala, Hawaii, passed away on March 31, 2012 in Bonners Ferry, Idaho.  

A service for Fanny will be held at the Punchbowl National Cemetery in Honolulu. She will be interred there alongside her husband. That date has not been determined.

Fanny Lou Hickman was born in Bakersfield Calif. She received her bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara. After college, Fanny moved to Key West, Fla., where she met her husband, Raymond E. Lilly, a young naval officer.

Fanny’s intelligent, inquisitive mind led her life in many unique directions.

In Key West, she was a school teacher where she started the island’s first library in a book mobile.

Raising a family in the Navy they moved around the country eventually settling in Honolulu, Hawaii. Fanny then received her master’s degree in library science and using her sharp analytical skills started an information research business. She taught herself to sail and in 1981 with friends sailed her boat to the equator.

She was instrumental in starting the Neighborhood Justice Center of Honolulu, a center for mediation to resolve civil disputes.

After Raymond died, she pursued her ultimate goal to live on the Big Island of Hawaii. She turned her land on the slopes of Mauna Loa into a productive and vital coffee and macadamia nut farm, where she happily lived out her last 12 years. Due to illness she had recently moved to Idaho to be closer to her daughter.

Fanny is survived by her son, Thaddeus J. Lilly of Honolulu, daughter Meghan Yeats of Sandpoint, Idaho; brother Col. Jack G. Harrington of Paso Robles, Calif.; daughter-in-law Judy Lilly, son in law David Yeats, and granddaughters: Miki Lilly, Kimi Lilly, Lori Lilly, Jessica Yeats, Maile Yeats, Hannah Yeats and two great grandchildren.

Fanny was preceded in death by her husband Captain Raymond E. Lilly and son Brian G. Lilly.

Family and friends are invited to sign Fanny’s book at www.bonnersferryfuneralhome.com Arrangements are entrusted to the care of Bonners Ferry Funeral Home.