SHREVEPORT, LA - A memorial service for Lillian Adriance Witt, 73, will be at 11:00 a.m. on June 10, 2016 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home Chapel, Marshall Street, Shreveport, LA. Officiating will be The Rev. Frank Witt Hughes. Visitation will be Friday from 10:00 a.m. until service time at the Funeral home.
Lillian was born on January 29, 1943, in Texarkana, Texas, as the first child to Paul Eugene Witt and Eula Bonner Witt. She died on June 6, 2016, in Shreveport. In her 73 years she had an eventful life, despite the fact that she was mentally challenged as the result of her birth with hydrocephalus during World War II, before the current treatment with shunt tubes was available.
Lillian was much loved by the Witt family and by many other people. After the World War was over, her parents moved to Dallas where Lillian and her younger sister Mary Helen grew up. Lillian finished high school in Plano, Texas, and took many college courses in Dallas. She worked for the Food and Drug Administration and later worked for LabCorp in Dallas. She had a generally independent life in Dallas and was able to take public transportation all over the city. She was a member of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas. In retirement she lived in independent living in Town Village North in Dallas and later moved to The Glen in Shreveport.
Lillian was an artist and was able to make crosses and many other items out of yarn and plastic canvas. In Shreveport she took painting lessons and gave her many paintings to family and friends. She learned to play the piano at a young age and loved to play hymns. Lillian was genuinely interested in other people and their lives.
Lillian was preceded in death by her parents, Paul and Eula Witt, and her sister, Mary Helen Witt James. After Mary Helen's death in 2003, Lillian was cared for by her first cousin, Cilla Hughes Trenado; and her second cousin, Berto Trenado, who checked on her needs every day. Cilla was assisted in caring for Lillian by her husband Joseph Trenado, her sister, Ann Hughes Ellis of Cave Creek, Arizona, her brother the Rev. Frank Witt Hughes of Minden, Louisiana, and her cousins, Mary Jean Garris and husband Jason of Spearsville, Louisiana, Daniel B. Thompson and wife Melinda of Ashdown, Arkansas, Ruth Emery and husband, Ed of Oklahoma, Keith Emery and wife, Tammy of Dallas along with Keith's children Keith, Jr., and Lauren, and David Emery of New York. The family would like to thank her special caregivers, Rosie César, and family. Many other people cared for Lillian as well, including Dr. April Palmer and the wonderful health care professionals at University Health in Shreveport.