Alice Vivian Tillerson

Our beloved mother, Alice Vivian Tillerson, was taken by the angels to be with the Lord on October 27, 2012 after a long illness.
Visitatiion will be Friday from 6-8 p.m. at Johnson-Moore Funeral Home.
To honor her wishes, she was cremated and a funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, November 3, 2012 at St. Patrick Catholic Church with Father Stephen Mocio officiating.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials to Four Rivers Outreach, 210 S. Rusk, Sherman, TX 75090.
She was born to Thomas Orville and Hope Baine Tillerson on January 7, 1934 in Denison, Texas. She attended St. Xavier’s Academy through 12th grade and was a member of St. Patrick Catholic Church and a lifelong Catholic.
Alice worked many years at Perrin AFB and later went to work at NASA Johnson Space Center writing books for upcoming missions. She worked on the Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960’s. She returned to college to become a psychiatric RN specializing in chemical detox and recovery, working in local hospitals and in North Texas for over 30 years. She was a member of AA where she obtained over 42 years sobriety and helped so many others with their recovery. She also was one of the original few who started the first halfway house for alcoholics and addicts “House of Hope” in Sherman, Texas.
She was married to Donald K. Wilburn of Ft. Worth right out of high school and they had two children, Linda Marie and Michael Orville. In the 50’s, at Perrin AFB, she met and married, SSgt. Armond S. Groves. He adopted her prior children.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Hope and Thomas Orville Tillerson; brother, William Glenn Tillerson; son, Michael Orville Groves and husbands, Armond S. Groves and Rogers VanZandt.
Alice is survived by her three children, Linda Pollaro of Denison, “Sally” Alice Miller and her husband, Eric of Southlake, Texas and Lee Nail and his wife, Kenya of Duncan, Oklahoma; grandchildren, Hilary KinCannon and Shawn KinCannon, Sean Pollaro and Courtney Rice, Julian Pollaro, Elliot Pollaro, Emily Clark, Nick Miller, Casey Miller and Jennifer Lewis. She also has 9 great grandchildren.
She will be greatly missed by all who knew her for her kindness and loving heart and the endless work she did in the community with her beloved “babies” as she referred to them, in recovery from addiction.
Condolences may be registered to: www.johnsonmoorefuneralhome.net.