Lois Hillmer

Lois M. Hillmer, age 98, passed away peacefully on May 29, 2015 at Mountain View Retirement Center in Tucson, AZ.

A celebration of her life will be held at 2:00 pm on June, 6, 2015 at Lenexa Baptist Church, 15320 W. 87th Street Parkway, Lenexa, KS 66219. A visitation will be held at the church prior to the service from 12:00 noon until 2:00 pm.

Mrs. Hillmer was born on June 2, 1917 in Vick, AR to parents Thomas Oscar Clanton and Effie Ellen Clanton. She was baptized at the Union Hill Baptist Church in Ingalls, AR at age 12. She attended grade school in Ingalls, AR and high school in Hermitage, Ar. She was a member of the girls’ basketball team and on graduation was named the head coach.

She was married to Robert C. Owen on December 11, 1933. She subsequently married Armin F. Hillmer in 1967 and they moved to Sun City Vistoso in Oro Valley, AZ. Armin passed away on June 24, 2001. Her business career included Co-Owner and Officer of Bob Owen & Co. Realtors, Officer of First National Bank of Shawnee Mission and Realtor with Hardin & Stockton Real Estate. She was an active member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Mission, KS.

Mrs. Hillmer was also an active member of her adopted Arizona community.  She was instrumental in starting the Vistoso Community Church in Oro Valley, AZ and was honored at the church on June 2, 2007 for her “dedication and supreme faith in God”. A lifelong gardener, she earned her Master Gardner certification through Pima County, AZ Extension Service. She created the flower gardens at Mountain View Retirement Center in Tucson for which she was honored in a ceremony at the facility on October, 3, 2008, naming it the Lois Hillmer Garden.

She was proceeded in death by her parents, husband, Armin F. Hillmer, first husband Robert C. Owen, an infant son who died at childbirth, sisters Mildred McClendon, Madge Lasiter, brothers Ray Clanton, Ralph Clanton, Ronald Clanton and George Clanton and grandson Daniel Driski. She is survived by her son David C. Owen, daughters Kathy Driski and Randi Midgley, step daughter Terry Morphew, stepson Reid Hillmer, grandchildren Debbie Wells, Beth Peters, Melissa Owen, Michelle Driski, Wally Midgley, Sherry Wells, Cindy Schliecher and Amy Midgley, Tracy Carlson, Todd Morphew and 18 great-grandchildren.

---