Obituaries
Lillie Mae Diffee graced our presence on July 27,1947, in Somerville, TN, joining parents Leon and Leah, and sister Martha. She was able to enjoy her spot as the youngest for about a year, until she was usurped by younger sister Dot. She expressed this displeasure by frequently scratching and clawing at the face of this interloper. Various barriers were put in place, to no avail, until the top of the crib was completely covered. Eventually, Lillie did get used to having a younger sister, which was probably a good thing because several years later Connie showed up, followed by Cindy bringing up the rear a few years after that.
Lillie developed her stubborn streak early on. While visiting her grandparents, Lillie decided she wanted to go down the highway to spend her money at the general store. When her Papaw declined to take her because he was working on the farm, she proposed she could just ride Tom the Mule to the store. Somehow, Papaw didn’t see a problem with an 8 year old riding a mule down a highway alone, but it was a different time, so… Anyway, everything was fine at first, Papaw put her on the mule, pointed her in the right direction, and off she went. She made it to the store, bought her candy, and prepared to head back to the farm. Only then did she realize it was a lot harder to get up on the mule without Papaw there to give her a boost. She tried a few different ways to no avail. As she started to become concerned, she spotted a tree stump towards the back of the store. After a brief argument with Ole Tom, Lillie was able to convince him to walk over to the stump and she was able to scramble back up onto the mule while hanging on to her candy. After returning home, Mamaw was definitely not a fan of the
new “ride the mule down the highway plan” and let Papaw know it.
Like most teen girls, Lillie was a huge fan of Elvis, and living in Memphis Actually gave her the opportunity to meet her idol. The Diffees,were all driving around, and went out to Graceland to check out the house, when Mr. Presley himself rolled by on his motorcycle. Appropriate screaming commenced. Somehow, they convinced Dad to follow Elvis, and everyone ended up at Humes Jr. High, and enjoyed watching Elvis and his friends playing football. During a break, Lillie and a friend had a piece of paper, that they handed to Elvis. After he signed it, they folded it over and handed it back for another signature. After five or six rounds, Elvis caught on and politely suggested the girls had enough autographs and they moved on.
She met future husband, Robert Facelli who lived down the street, and at age 15, accepted his invitation to see “The Days of Wine and Roses”, a totally appropriate film for young teenagers on their first date. Rumor has it that future Mother-in-Law Weezie was not super thrilled to drop her plans to drive them to the movies, but did it anyway, like any mother would. Many years and dates later, they were married on July 26, 1968.
Lillie worked at Sears Crosstown, the Amazon of it’s time, and used her discount to purchase a sweet little camper that was used often on weekend trips. She also enjoyed zipping around the campgrounds on her sweet motorbike that she also purchased on discount from Sears. She also joined the Sears softball team, and totally dominated in true Lillie fashion.
In the midst of all this, Lillie also became a mother to the creative, funny and brilliant Tracy, and Rob was there too. She was an involved and hilarious mom who was always willing to drive the kids around as long as it didn’t interfere with napping on the couch, watching People’s Court or the Memphis State Tigers basketball team. She usually drove on school field trips, and would sneak treats in the car for all the kids in her car. Every Christmas, she would go to the school to visit all the classrooms dressed as Santa Claus handing out candy.
She started her work from home phase when another mom asked her to baby sit her son after school, and her unplanned (likely illegal as well by today’s standards) daycare was born. As if those additional kids weren’t enough, Lillie also decided to become a (licensed this time!) foster parents, and eventually would foster 27 infants in 7 years. Lillie picked up tennis around this time, and crushed it. She moved up the ranks winning the singles and doubles tournaments in her league many times.
Leaving behind WFH to start at the University of Memphis, Lillie joined her sister Connie in the athletics office. That lasted for several years until the Facellis moved to Collierville and the commute jumped to more than ten minutes. Lillie said “The hell with that” and traded her blue Tigers sweatshirt for a purple polo short with Malco Theatres, where she would spend the next twenty years, until she retired. Lilllie was always friendly, funny, charming and hard working, and she used these skills to move up from the ticket office to her own private office as she was promoted up the ladder to General Manager. She continued to win over almost everyone she met, except for a few unfortunate customers who might dare to disrespect her beloved theatre. She made lifelong friends there who were texting her til the very end.
In 2014, her beloved granddaughter Aria was born, and Lillie wore out the route on I-40 between Collierville and Nashville to visit her on a regular basis. While she claimed it was also to visit her children, everyone knew the truth as she’d plow right through her kids to get to Aria for a hug. She absolutely adored Aria, and that sped up the decision to retire from Malco in 2018 and pack up and move to Nashville.
Unfortunately, in April of 2023, Lillie was diagnosed with lung cancer. She fought it like anyone who knew her would expect. In spite of all of her spite and efforts, Lillie passed peacefully on May 19, 2024. She is survived by husband Robert, children Tracy and Rob, granddaughter Aria, her sisters Martha, Dot, Connie, and Cindy, in addition to many nieces, nephews and
cousins, many who worked with her at the Collierville Malco.
Serenity Funeral Home has charge. Please join us to celebrate Lillie. Visitation will be June 4, 2024 from 4-6pm, June 5 from 12-1pm with Service to follow at 1pm. In lieu of flowers,
donations can be made to CASA Nashville or CASA Memphis.
CasaNashville.org
TNCasa.org
Serenity Funeral Home, Tel. (901)379-0861.
Previous Events
Visitation
4
Jun
1638 Sycamore View Road
Memphis, TN 38134
Visitation
5
Jun
1638 Sycamore View Road
Memphis, TN 38134
Service
5
Jun
1638 Sycamore View Road
Memphis, TN 38134
Cemetery Details
Location
3700 N Germantown Pkwy
Bartlett, TN 38133
