Dona Lee Tiller, of Hines, passed away peacefully at Harney District Hospital Oct. 27.

Dona was born Sept. 27, 1945, in Portland, to Lloyd Ernist Fones and Maxine Elizabeth (Fields) Fones. Her family relocated to Harney County in 1946. She attended Burns Grade School and graduated from Burns Union High School in 1963. It was there that she met, and two years later, married her high school sweetheart, Gary Tiller.  She was active in GAA and intramural sports.

Dona and Gary settled and raised their four children in Burns. Over the years, Dona was a busy homemaker. She also worked at Tiller’s Market, owned her own fabric store (Sew n Sew Fabrics), and served thousands of locals and visitors at Ye Olde Castle.

She and Gary loved camping, fishing, and recreating outdoors. You could always find her with a paint brush in hand and color swatches on the table or planning her next remodeling project. Her other favorite passion was cooking and creating many favorite dishes to share with her large family. Dona and Gary were always very supportive of youth activities in Burns and Hines.

Grandma Dona was the family Zelda champion, and her grandkids would frequently call her for cheats!

Dona and Gary were married for 54 years until Gary’s passing in June 2017.

Dona is survived by her four children, Sandy Clark (Don Marchand), Kent Tiller, Paul Tiller (Audra), and Leslie Tiller; siblings, Lloyd Fones Jr. (Betty), Rosie Kimble, Mary Boushey, Linda McManus (Bill), and Jodie Fones Shafer; grandchildren, Lindsay Wheatley (Ben), Ashlea Samuelson (Andy), Stacy Clark, Kamron Tiller, Mason Tiller, Korbin Tiller, Rylee Tiller, and Tyson Whitney; four great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by husband, Gary Tiller; parents, Lloyd and Maxine Fones; and son-in-law, Brett Clark.

Services and a celebration of life will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 9, at the Harney County Church of the Nazarene, 311 Roe Davis Avenue in Hines.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Kids Club of Harney County, P.O. Box 488, Burns, Oregon 97720.