Mary Silliman

East Moline, Illinois
Mary Silliman of East Moline. Ill. passed away at her home Sunday night, July 31, 2005, after a long struggle with congestive heart failure.
Visitation is 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Trimble Funeral and Cremation Center, Moline. Private family services will follow. The family requests no flowers, please. Such memorials as persons wish to provide may be made to a favorite charity or to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra, 327 Brady, Davenport, Iowa 52801.
Mary was born on April 30, 1923, in Rockford, Illinois, the daughter of Harold and Iva (Hanger) Yost of Byron, Illlinois. She attended Byron schools, graduating in 1940 from Byron High School. She attended Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa receiving a degree in music in 1944. She married Richard Silliman in Byron on June 12, 1945. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in June.
It was discovered early on that Mary had talent as a musician and a fine soprano voice. She was a frequent soloist at churches and other public gatherings around Byron during her high school years and won a first in the state music contest in 1940. At Cornell she was a member of the college choir and a frequent soloist. After graduation she taught music in the public schools of Morrison, Ill., LaGrange, Ill. and Elgin, Ill.
In 1948, she became director of the large choir program at the First Methodist Church in Elgin. She was a founding member of the Elgin Choral Union and a frequent soloist with that group in a wide range of oratorios. In 1962, she moved to Moline when her husband accepted a position with Deere & Co. In Moline, she was choir director at the First Methodist Church for some years and later directed choirs at Faith Lutheran Church. She was a member of the Rock Island Fine Arts Club and of the Chamber Singers, singing the soprano part in the latter group's performance of the Mozart Requiem in the Seventies.
Mary was a member of Chapter HB of PEO, receiving recognition as a 50 year member last year. She was a member of the Tri-City Garden Club. For a number of years, she wrote the program notes for the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. In the Seventies she served several terms as a member of the Alumni Board of Cornell College. She and her husband were interested in classical music and attended concerts and operas here, in Chicago and elsewhere until her health declined.
Mary enjoyed cooking and delighted in trying new recipes. She was a fine seamstress and made many of her and her childrens' clothes over the years. She also enjoyed needle work and made many fine pieces during her life.
She is survived by her husband, daughter Martha and her companion Janet Malmberg of Salt Lake City, Utah, and son Charles and his wife, Clare, of Kingston Springs, Tenn. She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Donald.
Share a memory about Mary with her famly at www.TrimbleFuneralHomes.com.