Celebrating Marianna (Anna Lee) and Keeping Her Spark Alive in the Fight Against Alzheimer's and Dementia

Born January 23, 1928, Anna Lee was the middle child of Ralph and Grace Cox of Springfield, MO.  She is preceded in death by her older sister, Mildred Hoefgen, and younger brother, Kenneth Cox.  She attended the University of Missouri for a degree in Home Economics where she met her husband, Wilbur Tiller, at a dance.  They were married March 27, 1948 and shared this love of dance throughout their marriage.

Eight years later, with their two children Greg and DeAnn, they moved to Hopkins, MN.  Wilbur had a position with Cargill as a graphic designer.  Anna Lee created a home.  Together they shared a love of traveling, art, music, and entertaining.  Both valued building and keeping close friendships and created a home filled with laughter.  They loved to celebrate big and small occasions with friends, family, and neighbors.  Even bridge nights could be boisterous.

Anna Lee had a variety of interests and hobbies that included bridge (she was a bit competitive), reading, knitting, needlepoint, hosta gardening, sewing.  Knitting Christmas stockings and sweaters, sewing all of DeAnn’s dresses, creating home soft-goods, she was skilled at them all. She was also an avid bird watcher and a member of the Audubon Society. She encouraged this creativity and curiosity in her children and made sure that they had the tools to follow their interests.

In 1956 she and Wilbur joined the Hopkins United Methodist Church where she became a member of the UMW.  This is also where friendships were built that lasted long after the church was sold.  This was a special group that created a yearly, high-spirited celebration they christened the Boulder Binder.

Anna Lee had developed an interest in antiques and so in 1970 decided to expand on that interest by working for an Estate Sale company.  Working the beautiful homes on Summit and Lake of the Isles, she may have spent more than she made but she enjoyed working with women with like interests and expanding her knowledge of the finer things.

By 1973, with Greg off to college and DeAnn in high school, she joined the workforce full time in a Secretarial position. Over the years she kept striving for excellence and eventually became a highly valued Executive Secretary for the Honeywell Attorney group.  She loved that job and was very disappointed when forced to retire in 1993.

After some traveling with Wilbur, that included a family trip to Disney World with her daughter’s family, Wilbur was diagnosed with polyneuropathy.  He passed July 1994.  Anna Lee’s fortitude carried her through this difficult time, setting an example of what strength and dignity look like. She carried on as Wilbur would have wanted and continued to travel, visiting Alaska, Florida, Italy, Greece, England, and Ireland with dear friends and family.  She also took up yoga, line dance and mah-jongg, continuing to stay active through her mid 90’s until dementia sadly started to rob her.