Lewis Tilley lived life on his own terms and ended it on his own terms.
The longtime art and graphics teacher in Pueblo and Colorado Springs died Oct. 4 at his daughter’s home in Colorado Springs. He was 84.
He told his daughter Eve Tilley Chavez on Sept. 3 that he wanted to die and henceforth wouldn’t eat or drink anything.
“He was so vital, and when he got to where he couldn’t do what he wanted to do, he was depressed and didn’t want to live,” Tilley Chavez said.
Tilley taught art and graphics at Colorado State University at Pueblo (formerly Southern Colorado State College and the University of Southern Colorado) and the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
Tilley painted, wrote poetry, took pictures, and did graphic design and computer art, said his daughter.
“I have never been able to deny myself the pleasure of creativity,” he once told an interviewer.
“He was full of curiosity and an absolute extrovert,” Tilley Chavez said.
Tilley traveled widely, learning new art forms and new cooking skills. He loved exotic foods and loved to throw big parties.
His wife, Martha, called him “a migratory bird.”
“He knew how to enjoy life,” said his other daughter, Margaret Anderson of Parrott, Ga.
Tilley was a freelance artist and muralist, wrote and directed films for Alexander Film Co. and worked with the British Ministry of Education and the Peace Corps in Nigeria. There he helped develop educational and communication media.
He did murals for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and First National Bank in Colorado Springs and for several restaurants.
He was awarded the Pikes Peak Arts Council/ Arts Business education award in 2002 and the Peak Area Performances and Artists award in 2003.
Lewis Tilley was born in Parrott, Ga., on May 17, 1921. He studied art at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta and earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Georgia and a master’s degree at the University of Guanajuato in Mexico through the University of Colorado.
He taught at Colorado State University at Pueblo from 1964 until 1985, when he retired. He was voted the most outstanding faculty member there in 1980.
On March 17, 1946, he married Martha Jent, whom he had met at the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center.
In addition to his wife and daughters, Tilley is survived by five grandchildren.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached
at 303-820-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
