Lillian Dillard Kelly Mahone

Mrs. Lillian Dillard Kelly Mahone, better known as "Bu" to her grandchildren, died peacefully on September 11 after a long illness. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday, September 14, 2015, at Mulberry Street United Methodist Church, with the Reverend Tommy Perkins officiating. The family will greet friends following the service. Burial will be private. Lillian was born in 1913 in Highlands, NC. Her family moved shortly afterwards to Dillard, Ga., where her father, Carl Dillard, ran a company transporting passengers and freight by mule-drawn wagon over the mountain from Dillard to Highlands. It was in Dillard that she spent her early childhood and helped raise her three younger brothers. Following her father's untimely death in 1923, Lillian, only 10 at the time, her brothers, and her mother moved to Macon, where their mother was able to find a job at the Tuberculosis Sanitarium at Camp Wheeler. Lillian attended Lanier High School where she excelled as a student and became somewhat of a Latin scholar, winning the Gold Medal in the statewide Latin contest during her junior year. (She often related the story of how disappointed her Latin professor - Mr. Robert Pulliam - was that she only won the Silver Medal, not the Gold Medal, during her senior year; he barely spoke to her when she returned to Macon!) Following high school, Lillian pursued an education degree at the Georgia State College for Women (now Georgia College), graduating in three years and returning to Macon to pursue a teaching career in the Bibb County school system. Shortly afterwards, she met her future husband, Burns Kelly, while both were attending Mulberry Street Methodist Church (where she was a member for 92 years!) The couple were married in 1937, but tragically, Burns died just 12 years later, leaving behind a 22 month old son and a two-week old daughter. Lillian's teaching job - and fairly frugal living - supported the family during this time. In 1953 she became the principal of J. Ellsworth Hall, a brand new elementary school in the Shurlington area of Macon. And, at about the same time, she met Tom Mahone from Talbotton, GA; after a long courtship, they were married in 1960. After 15 years as principal at J. Ellsworth Hall, Lillian assumed a similar role at Miller Jr. High School for five years and she then completed her career as principal of Springdale Elementary School, retiring in 1978 to help take care of her grandchildren who moved to Macon that year. During her long retirement, Lillian very much enjoyed spending time with her two grandchildren and seeing them become parents and raising their own children. Throughout her career Lillian's love for teaching and her love of children was so very obvious. She must have had a photographic memory; she could remember almost every student she ever taught - and also remembered exactly where they lived and the name of their dog! She recalled having at Ellsworth Hall a first grader who came into the principal's office for disciplinary reasons. As a six year old, the child had never been in school before and here he was already being sent to the prinicpal's office! Scared to death of the impending punishment, the little first grader said to his principal: "Please, Mrs. Mahone, don't spank me! You're the very best principal I've ever had!" (though he'd never had another!) Lillian was predeceased by her first husband, Burns Kelly, and by her second husband, Tom Mahone, who died in 2008. She is survived by her two children, Frank (Lawson) Kelly and Pam Kelly, both of Macon, by her two grandchildren, Will (Hayley) Kelly and Carter Kelly (William) Monroe, and by her three great-grandchildren, Jackson Mahone Kelly, Anabel Lawson Monroe, and William Galpin Monroe, V. The family would like to extend special thanks to Doris Prater and to the staff at Carlyle Place for their loving care, dedicated competence, and sincere devotion to Lillian. Memorials may be made to Mulberry Street United Methodist Church, the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation (9400 W.Higgins Rd.; Rosemont,IL 60018), or to the charity of choice. Lillian was a wonderful, devoted mother and a terrific and loving grandmother and great-grandmother. And she was a much-beloved educator. Her family very much enjoyed and appreciated her former students so often sharing their love for her and their appreciation for the wonderful example she set for so many. "Every child should have a caring adult in their lives. Often times it is a teacher who takes a little hand, opens a young mind, and touches a tender heart." Register online at www.hartsmort.com. Hart's Mortuary at the Cupola has charge of arrangements.