Mildred Tullis of Iuka passed peacefully into the arms of her Savior Tuesday night, April 8, 2025, at the age of 107.
Mildred was born on April 2, 1918, to Alexander (“Alex”) Tullis and Lyda (nee Holstlaw). She loved to tell stories of her childhood: taking care of farm animals and helping her grandfather who was a veterinarian, about the neighbor who drove a Model T that she called a “puddle jumper”, the train conductor who would wave and toss free newspapers onto her lawn as the passenger train rolled by, the hobos who would wander by looking for food and work during the Depression years, and about the times she and her brother Paul would hunt squirrels along Skillet Fork.
Mildred attended Iuka Grade School and was the last living graduate of Iuka High School. She finished out her education as a Senior of Salem Community High School, Class of 1936. For many years, she worked as a bookkeeper for the Iuka grain elevator. She was a true pioneer woman: strong and independent. She raised cattle into her 80s and never saw the inside of a hospital until she fell from a ladder while repairing her uncle’s roof in her 90s. She loved raising flowers, growing a garden, fishing, and mushroom hunting. She lived in the house she was born in until the age of 102, then she moved in with her neighbors the Partains.
Mildred loved her home, making calendars for her friends, clever riddles for church gatherings, playing rummy and dominos, and baking sugar cookies for “her kids” across the tracks. Her wildflower arrangements, homemade jellies, and tomatoes were frequent blue-ribbon winners at the Marion County Fair. She was a longtime member of the Woodlawn Church of Iuka, where she served as Sunday School secretary for decades.
She was preceded in death by a newborn brother in 1923 and her brother Paul, who drowned at the age of 17 in 1943. She cared for her parents until her father’s death in 1965 and her mother’s death in 1967.
Mildred never married or had children but had many friends who loved her. She loved and was dearly loved by the Partains, who considered her part of their family. She is survived by Thomas and Donna Partain of Iuka, Laura Partain (fiancé Alec) of Nashville, TN, Andrew (Oda) Partain of Nashville, TN, her “little boy” Joseph Partain of Pittsburgh, PA, and Cousin Bernard Holstlaw (Betty) of Rock Island, IL.
A visitation will be held on Monday, April 14, 2025, from 10:00 am to 11:00 am at Sutherland-Rankin Funeral Home in Salem, IL, with a graveside service to follow at the Iuka Cemetery with her minister, Bill Cash, presiding. Online condolences may be left at www.sutherlandfuneralhome.com or Sutherland Funeral Homes’ Facebook page.
