Lillian Byronell Boly, 93, passed away peacefully with family present Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022.
Dear daughter of the late Joseph Robert Jr. and Mary Pearl Boly (nee Park). Loving sister of the late Geneva V. Boly, Roberta Womack and Evelyn Thomas. Loving Aunt, great-aunt and great-great-aunt to Richard “Byron” (Donna) Chapin. dear cousin and friend to many.
Lillian’s formal education began at Pleasant Hill School in Butler County, Missouri. She attended Poplar Bluff High School, graduating in 1945.
She took the county teachers exam and made a high enough score to get a two-year teaching certificate. With the help of her parents and her sister Evelyn, she attended Southeast Missouri State Teachers College in the summer, and began teaching at Black River School, north of Poplar Bluff, in a one-room school. The next two years, she taught in other one-room schools in Butler County. She almost quit teaching but was encouraged to continue her college education the next year and the following summer. In 1949 she began teaching third and fourth grades at Naylor, in Ripley County.
In 1954, she was hired to teach in Riverview Gardens. In 1955, she finished her Bachelor of Science in Education degree, with a major also in English and a minor in History, at Southeast Missouri State College. Beginning in 1960, she did graduate work at Washington University, receiving the Masters of Arts in Education in the summer of 1964. Since then, she did additional graduate work at Washington University, the University of Oregon and Webster University.
She officially retired in June of 1990, but continued substituting and teaching summer school at Riverview Gardens High School until the end of 1998-99 year and each summer from 1993 to 1999.
She was an active member in several organizations educational organizations.
An important experience was a trip to Europe in the summer of 1966. followed by othertrips in the British Isles and the Europeon continent.
Visitation, 9:30 - 10:30 a.m., Friday, Sept. 30, 2022, at Hutchens Mortuary & Cremation Center, 675 Graham Road, Florissant, Missouri. Funeral service will follow at 10:30 a.m. Interment will be between 2:15 p.m. Friday in Kinsey Cemetery in Harviell, Missouri.