Daisy Rae Mahoney Dille

Daisy Rae Mahoney Dille

Daisy Rae Mahoney Dille was born on Sept. 3, 1936, in Cairo, the daughter of Ray and Yula Wilson Mahoney, and died on Dec. 3, 2020.

She grew up in Mounds surrounded by family and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents and grandparents. 

She attended Mounds Thistlewood Grade School and Mounds Township High School in Mounds.

She graduated from the Southern Illinois University Vocational Technical Institute in May 1957. 

During her school age years, she was very active in school, 4-H, American Legion Post 178, and attended Illini Girl’s State and church activities. 

She also was a junior and an adult assistant 4-H leader after marriage. As her sons grew up, she was a Cub Scout den mom and helped with Boy Scouts.

On March 30, 1957, she married her high school sweetheart and the love of her life, George Russell Dille. 

They had two sons, James Ray (Cynthia Knauft) and Russell Eugene (Anita); three grandsons, George Russell (Anna), Clinton Ray (Emma) and Jacob Krin; one great-grandson, Ellis Russell, and two great-grandbabies on the way, Rylen Rae and baby Dille. 

She also is survived by her brother, James “Buddy” Wilson Mahoney; a brother-in-law, James F. Dille (Mary); cousins; and many nieces and nephews.

Daisy and George also had “children borrowed from other parents”: Barbara Cobuluis, Keith Critchlow, Kris Crowder, Kelley Graves, Ed and Steve Montgomery. All were very special to her. Her family was the most important thing in her life.

Daisy and George cherished their time together in the many places they lived: Mounds, Killeen, Texas, St. Louis and Hannibal, Mo., Topeka, Kans., Eden Prairie, Minn., and Manhattan, Kan.

While living in Minnesota, they camped and rode bicycles over many trails in Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, and they camped in many places in the mid-northern United States and Canada.

They also camped in the southwest, on the Atlantic seaboard and in Texas. 

She enjoyed traveling with George in the United States and to Europe. She enjoyed reading while George fished in the beautiful outdoors. 

She also enjoyed quilting and working on photo albums for her family in Manhattan. 

She loved watching the men’s Minnesota Gophers basketball, the Kansas State baseball and basketball teams, Junction City baseball, and most of all, watching her grandkids participate in sport activities.

During her years in Topeka, she worked for USD501 and was very active in the national and state organizations for office personnel. 

While in Minnesota, she worked for the Synod of Lakes and Prairies, Presbyterian Church, Bloomington, Minn., until she retired in October 1998. They moved back to Manhattan, Kan., to be nearer to family.

One of Daisy’s favorite memories was watching the sun coming up on Lake Superior at Madeline Island in Wisconsin. Yes, she did get up to watch it. 

Memorials may be given the Mounds Public Library, First Street, Mounds; to the Manhattan, Kan., Public Library; or to the Johnson Cancer Research Center, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kan. 

Contributions may be left in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kan. 66502.

A celebration of her wonderful life was held at Westmoreland United Methodist Church, Westmoreland, Kan., for family only, at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 8.

The celebration was available both live and recorded via Zoom link: https://zoom.us/j/93727279805?pwd=R250NnptcWFzWFp1VnpxeHliRFJSdz09. 

Her ashes will be scattered over her beloved Kansas Flint Hills on the Dille Farm by her family in Olsburg, Kan.

This announcement is courtesy of Crain Funeral Home in Cairo.

 

The Gazette-Democrat

112 Lafayette St.
Anna, Illinois 62906
Office Number: (618) 833-2158
Email: news@annanews.com

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