Lillian Faye Coker Howell Spining

November 30,1915-June 10,2008

Lillian was born in Winters, Texas, the second child and eldest daughter of Emma Yeats Coker and Robert Lee Coker. Raised on a farm near Morton, Texas, she excelled all her life in any endeavor she chose. At an early age, she became a second mother to her younger siblings. In high school, she mastered skills as varied as public speaking and sprinting. As a member of the greatest generation and a young wife, she followed her husband where she could before and after the battles and trials that he faced as warrior against the Axis. As a young mother, she raised her children in towns as varied as Memphis, Texas and Sao Paulo, Brazil. As a mature wife, she settled with her second husband on Lido Island in Newport Beach, California. Glamorous, sophisticated, elegant, she presided over a large family with intelligence and grace. Her taste in fashion, art, music, and architecture were fine and well developed. Her life was a study in contrasts as she was at home in the finest hotel in Paris, a tramp steamer on the Amazon, a dirt sod shack on the plains of West Texas, or a fine home she redesigned herself on the outer rim of Lido overlooking the bay with her own dock and beach. She died peacefully at home surrounded by loving family.

Preceding her in passing were her mother and father, her elder brother James, her younger brothers R.L. and Royce, her sister Evelyn, her son Richard, and her husbands Durwood and Paul.

She is survived by her sister Modell, her sister-in-law Ruthie, her sister-in-law Alyce, her brothers-in-law Ben and Sleepy, her sons Jamie and Paul, her daughters Karen and Coleen, her daughters-in-law Paula and Heidi, her grandsons Mathew, Jake, Damian, and Richard, her granddaughters Shannon, Jesse Star, Britt, Lily Kate, Arcaidia, Adrianne and Jenny Blaze and her great granddaughters Alyssa, Taylor, Alex, and Kaya. She is also survived by her irreplaceable friend and companion Jewel and two felines Pede and Lucy who brought her hours of humor and joy.

The family wishes to embrace her caregivers Florica, Eva, and Norma who gave her comfort during her declining days.

Services to be held at the St. Andrews Presbyterian Church, Newport Beach, California at 1pm, Friday, June 13, 2008. In lieu of flowers the family requests a donation made in her name to the St. Andrews Church, the American Diabetic Association, or the charity of your choice.