Kay County OK Obit for: Emmett "Earnest" Tillman 
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Submitted to the archives by:Bill Cook, billcook44@aol.com
Date submitted: 2/16/2003 
Transcribed from the Ponca City News, http://www.poncacitynews.com/
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Emmett Tillman
 

STILLWATER -- Emmett "Earnest" Tillman, father of Diann Calvert and Fred 
Tillman of Ponca City, died Nov. 8, 2002, in Glencoe. He was 82. 

The funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the First Baptist 
Church in Glencoe with the Revs. Jim Hoipkemier, pastor, Larry Calvert and 
Virgle Calvert officiating. Burial will be in Mountain View Cemetery in 
Casa Grande, Ariz., under direction of Strode Funeral Home in Stillwater. 

Emmett Tillman was born Jan. 26, 1920, in Henryetta, the son of Emmett L. 
Tillman and Jeffie L. Parker Tillman. 

In 1935, at the age of 15, Earnest came to Arizona on a freight train 
and was a day laborer on various farms around Casa Grande, Ariz., mainly 
on the Ethington Farm. 

Earnest worked for Production Cotton Oil constructing a cotton gin at Sunland, 
Ariz. When the gin was finished, Earnest began working there and worked up to 
the position of head ginner. 

When World War II broke out, Earnest was classified as 4F because he had 
polio as a child and one leg is shorter than the other. 

Earnest got a job helping to build Japanese internment camps between Coolidge 
and Florence, Ariz. 

One year during the harvest season, Earnest and his family traveled to 
California and Oregon to harvest fruit and vegetables. 

During the growing season, Earnest worked for Ethington Farms and in the fall 
would work at the gin. 

In 1950, Earnest leased a 160-acre farm from Chet Ethington. This was called 
the Sewer Farm because it used sewer water from the town of Casa Grande to 
irrigate the farm. 

During this time, Earnest and his brother Bill purchased one of the first 
cotton picker machines in the Casa Grande Valley and did custom cotton 
icking. 

In 1956, Earnest and his brother Bill along with a friend, Clarence Tribby, 
bought the 1300-acre Lazy T-3 ranch in Maricopa, Ariz. After seven years the 
Lazy T-3 was sold and Earnest bought a 320-acre farm in Wellton, Ariz., his 
brother Bill bought a potato farm in Colorado and Clarence invested in other 
properties. 

In 1963, the family moved to Wellton. 

In 1965, Earnest suffered his third heat stroke, the farm was sold and Earnest 
bought a gas station in Wellton. 

In 1968, Earnest bought another 240-acre farm in San Simon, Ariz. Earnest 
worked the farm as well as working at the San Simon schools as a bus driver/
janitor. 

Earnest also did construction work at the Playas, N.M., copper smelter during 
this time. 

In 1978, Earnest sold the farm in San Simon, Ariz., and moved the family to 
Glencoe, where he worked on the construction of the OG&E power plant at Sooner 
Lake. When the construction was complete Earnest again worked for the school 
system in Glencoe as a bus driver/janitor until he retired in 1987. 

He married Jessie Irene Fincher on April 13, 1940, in Florence Ariz. 

He was a member of the First Baptist Church in Glencoe. 

Survivors include 11 sons, Lee Roy and wife Nancy, Bob and wife Lila, and David 
and wife Brenna Tillman, all of Glencoe, Bill and wife Jean Tillman of Thatcher, 
Ariz., Dwayne and wife Linda Tillman of Willcox, Ariz., Jerry and wife Ida 
Tillman of Coolidge, Ariz., Dean and wife Mary Kay Tillman of Oswego, Ill., 
Mike and wife Mary Tillman of Stillwater, Randy and wife Junell Tillman of 
Lompoc, Calif., Ken and wife Janine Tillman of Granby, Colo., and Fred and 
wife Linda Tillman of Ponca City; one daughter, Diann and husband Larry 
Calvert of Ponca City; 29 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren. 

He was preceded in death by his wife; a son, Ronald Tillman; three brothers; 
two sisters; and one grandchild, Jeff. 
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Published Monday, November 11, 2002


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copyright USGenwb 2003 Ponca City News, http://www.poncacitynews.com/
http://www.usgwarchives.net/
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