Paul Jackson Tillison, known as “Uncle Tic” to family and “Papa T” to former students, was a teacher from start to finish. Paul was born on November 19, 1932 William Lonnie Tillison and Flora Mae Duckett Tillison; he was the caboose of the family joining big brother William “Bill” Elijah Tillison and his beloved big sister Lillie Mae Tillison Reaves. Tragedy struck early in his life, the kind with ramifications lasting to this day. Flora, a young girl of 16 at the time of her marriage to Lonnie, a 42-year-old carpenter and stonemason, left the family when Paul was around three.
Paul Jackson Tillison (November 19, 1932 – September 20, 2024)
Lonnie was a simple and penniless man content with a life vid of ostentatious adornments. Flora left Birmingham, Alabama shortly after her departure from the family with sights set on the bright lights and glamour of New York City. It would be many years before a reunion occurred, but, as they say, time marched on.
Lonnie and the children resided with his mother Annie Eliza for a few years before her death. Lonnie, often travelling far distances for work, had to rely on family, friends, and any willing party to aid in the care of the three young children. Shortly after Annie Eliza’s passing, tragedy struck once again when the courts decided that without a female presence in the home, it was inappropriate for Lonnie to raise Lillie. Lillie then started a treacherous ten-year journey in Mountain Brook, Alabama where she lived an unpleasant life with some relatives. During this time, Bill and Paul grew into young men with a loving but absent father. at the age of 16, Lillie was reunited and allowed to live with her brothers and father once again.
The family of four landed in Trussville, Alabama after many years of a nomadic lifestyle. At the time, the young teens Lillie and Paul stated to put down deep roots and form lasting bonds of friendship for the first time in their lives.
Soon after, tragedy would lash out at both siblings when Faye Reaves, a close friend to both, would be shockingly taken far too early in her young life. This accident would rock Paul and Lillie while also sending them down a path no one would imagine. Paul would go on to serve his country in the United States Navy, from 1951 to 1955 stationed at Kodiak Island, Territory of Alaska. Despite a hard childhood and moving schools several times, Paul was a bright young man and found himself working in the Lieutenant’s office as an Administrative Office Worker. He would later enthrall his family with the one and only time he discharged his weapon at a grizzly bear!
Gaining his GED before enlisting in the Navy, Paul took his knowledge from eight years of grammar school and three and a half years of junior high and blazed a path to Florence, Alabama upon his honorary discharge from the Navy. He would begin his eight years of college there, earning a Bachelor of Arts from Florence State University now known as The University of North Alabama in 1962. Later that year, he would embark on his long career as a junior high and later middle school English teacher the Jefferson County Board of Education at Hewitt-Trussville. He had a dedicated wealth of knowledge centering on grammar and literature. Papa T was loved by his students, but more importantly, he was respected as a disciplinary figure. Any student ever receiving one of his punishments would surely remember those famous last words, “point it toward the Parkway,” prior to a less than desirable reminder to think before their actions from then on.
Over the next eight years, he would collect degrees and certifications from Jacksonville University and finally end his collegiate career with a Master of Arts from Samford University in 1970. While Paul was gaining knowledge, siblings Bill and Lillie were settling down and starting families of their own.
Paul, a lifetime bachelor, doted on his twelve nieces and nephews by spending time living with both families over the years. Bill and wife Helen landed in California after he was discharged from the Army where they raised daughters Diane, Deborah, and Teresa and sons Richard, Lonnie, and Michael. Paul joined Lillie and her husband AC Reaves, the brother of their late friend Faye, in Levittown, Pennsylvania where they were now raising their children Joy Faye, Richard, Gary, Jack, and Kenny.
In September of 1960, Paul, along with Lillie’s growing family, made the trek home to Trussville, Alabama. In the fall of 1965, Paul and father Lonnie purchased a small home in the Cahaba Project Homestead neighborhood in the heart of Trussville where Lonnie lived with his son until his passing in 1971.
In 1966, the dozen nieces and nephews were completed with the baby of the bunch Jenny Ann Reaves being born. A reunion of mother and youngest children would be on the horizon. Much time and life had passed when Flora briefly reentered her Alabama’s children’s lives. The reunion was awkward after nearly a lifetime apart. Flora had left New York years earlier and ended up in California near her oldest son Bill, where she had a close relationship with Californian grandchildren until her death in 1976.
Paul had settled into a life of teaching and rearing his students. He held Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” dear to his heart. In 1987, after 25 years of molding the young minds of Trussville’s youth, he decided to undertake a new adventure: retirement.
In his retirement, he enjoyed his nieces, nephews and the myriad of great, great-great and in the most recent years, great-great-great nieces and nephews that carry on the legacy of his dearly departed brother Bill and sister-in-law Helen as well as his sister Lillie Mae Reaves and his friend and brother-in-law AC.
Paul was an avid reader, gardener and owner of an extensive vinyl collection. He learned to enjoy each day to its fullest. He could often be seen on his daily seven-mile walks through Trussville and along the Cahaba. or hidden away ensconced in one of his many home improvement projects. His favorite pastime was enjoying a nice breeze while swinging on the screened porch where he has watched Trussville grow for nearly 60 years. Ask any of his family and they will be sure to tell you that the words “Don’t swing against me” are sure to be soaked into the grains of that old wooden porch.
As life and age do to everyone, Paul has struggled with many health problems including COPD which stole his daily walks and gardening and eventually landed him home on hospice. Paul lived out his days in his little house on Oak Street surrounded daily by his Alabama family and visited often by the youngest nieces from California. He is loved and cared for dearly by family, friends, neighbors and his five dedicated caregivers.
As a family we wanted to share a little about Paul Jackson Tillison’s life. We are overwhelmed and thankful to say the least that a short few weeks ago at the age of 91 years and 9 months Paul took the step to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He just couldn’t help but give us all one last extraordinary lesson that it is never too late.
Uncle Tic passed in the early afternoon Friday September 20th from the loving arms of his nieces and nephews into the arms of Jesus Christ his Lord and Savior.
Matthew 5:4: “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.”
Don’t forget to “point it toward the Parkway” – Papa T
