~ A Tribute To Mother ~

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January 19, 2002

Alma Rachel Gober Tillman

April 20, 1910 - March 29, 1988

Child of God

Our Mother was an awesome lady of devout faith, tremendous love, and great strength. In her 78 years, Mother would weather the storms of life with great determination and grace. She devoted her life to God and her children. Being a single parent, Mother ‘dared to be different�? and did her parenting the only way she knew how - and that was "by the Book." She often quoted scriptures of discipline from that ‘Book�? If we misbehaved, she tore our tails up.

Her children would be her happiness, and would be heartache, as some of us were still unsaved. She always said, "God promised, if I live for him, he will save my whole household." I am happy to say that he let her live to see that day. This is her legacy.

Born in Comanche County, Texas - to Rufus Smith Gober and Minnie Emmaline James Gober. They had three boys and five girls; Alma was their fourth. Mrs. Nettie Mae Gober Lawson, of Brownwood, Texas, is the baby of the family and the soul survivor.

Alma, at age14 and Monroe Vanoy Felts were married from 1924 to 1940. They lived in Texas and had eleven children (four of these were miscarriages).

Alma, at the age of 31, and William Henry Bishop, were married from 1941 to 1952. They lived in Texas and had five children.

Alma, at the age of 55, and Slim Tillman, were married in 1965, in Texas. He died in 1969. They had no children.

Mother lived for her God - who carried her through troublesome waters and the valley of the shadows of death numerous times. In her lifetime, she would experience the loss of her younger sister, Leta Gober, who died from meningitis at age 9; also, six, of her sixteen children, her parents and her husband Slim Tillman. She would defy death for herself, through cancer and several heart attacks, and for her sixteenth child, who was born 3 months premature. Through it all, she never wavered from the faith instilled in her as a child.

The stories of her childhood were of a close knit - God fearing - family. Her favorite stories she told were going to ‘Brush Arbor�?camp meetings in a covered wagon, and how the spirit of God moved. People were healed and souls were saved. She spoke of the family prayer closet. It was a place to pray without being disturbed. She told of hardships during the Great Depression and the Texas droughts. All the stories ended with how God always made a way, through his mercy, and made them all stronger in their faith and in their love for each other.

Mother was a very talented artist and writer. She only finished the 8^{th grade, however, she continued to educate herself in the arts. Mother could draw or paint anything. She wrote songs, poems, prose, and short stories. Her dream was to someday publish her work - she would not realize her dream, - because most of her work was destroyed in a house fire. She passed these talents on to her children and told us, "talent is a gift from God - and to always give him the glory for your accomplishments." Most evenings we all set on the front porch, playing guitars and singing. The little ones would chase fireflies. Daisies were her favorite flowers. No matter where we lived, she would plant daisies. She loved big shade trees, too.}

Mother had a great sense of humor. At times she was down right hilarious, with the come here ‘roll call�? She had a certain sequence of names for each of us. Mine was - "Sandy, Shirley, Marty, Sue" - "I mean, Betty Rose." Then she’d say, "I swuny, I don’t know what makes me do that."

Words can not express Mother’s courage or her love for God and family. Her children and friends adored her. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren worshiped her.

In the late evening hours of March 29, 1988, Mother had a heart attack and the angels took her home. She is now with her Lord and the babies she never stopped grieving for. The body of, Reverend Alma Rachel Gober Tillman, was laid to rest in the Greenleaf Cemetery at Brownwood, Texas, on Easter Sunday.

She was an Evangelist of the Pentecostal faith, was Pastor of the Brick Yard Church, in Brownwood, Texas, in the mid-fifties. Her spirit still lives on in her descendants, who with great respect and gratitude dedicate this web site to the glory of God, in her honor and, the honor of all Mothers. ©Betty Rose Brown 1-19-02