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Nan Hyman called me last week to tell me her mother passed away. Her mother was Nancy Revels Lilley and was the treasurer at my school when I was the football coach and athletic director at Williamston High School.

Nancy taught me all that she knew about financial matters. She taught me how to do a budget and all the things necessary about how to run a program with 17 different athletic teams. She was a good steward of Martin County money.

We did not always agree about the dollar amount but we agreed to disagree agreeably on any matter. I could hear her coming to the gym bringing me a purchase order that needed to be signed. Her predecessor, Mrs. Gwen Whitley, had told her about me forgetting to have purchase orders filled out. She never forgot.

Nancy always had her Bible on her desktop and read it during her lunch break. She would quote Bible scriptures to me if I visited her on my lunchtime. She was a true Christian woman. After her husband passed away (the late John Lilley) she became the treasurer at Washington High School. Mr. Denning was principal then and I worked with her through six different principals in a row.

Nan, Eason and Harriet were her children and I taught or coached all of them. They were a pleasure to coach and teach and get to know. They were like their mother and father, a pleasure to work with.

I would visit Nancy every week when I went to visit my mentor, Dink Mills, until she got bad off and didn’t want any company. I visited Nancy in the nursing home in Washington. She always had a smile on her face and never did let me leave without telling me she loved me. She never let anyone wait on her that she didn’t say thank you for helping me. A nurse at the hospital or a visitor. She was always very thoughtful of her visitors.

Nancy Lilley will be missed! Our hearts go out to her family and friends and maybe Nan, Eason and Harriet will become the ladies and gentleman that she was. They have taken good care of their Mom.

They were the best of times with the best friends and in the best of places Washington, N.C…the Original Washington!

Harold Jr.