Eugenia Pettiss Hilliard

Eugenia “Genie” Pettiss Hilliard died September 11, 2015, at The Montclair Assisted Living in Decatur. She was born at home on February 17, 1923, in Collinston, Louisiana, the second-born of identical twin daughters of Mary Ida Vaughan and Jerry Dickson Pettiss. “The twins,” as they were known throughout their small community, had five brothers, four of them older. They graduated co-valedictorians from Collinston High School. Genie attended Monroe Business College and worked during World War II in various administrative positions including at Selman Field, Louisiana. In 1946 she moved to Atlanta and took a position as Secretary to the Vice-President for Cargo at Delta Air Lines where she worked until 1949.
At Delta she met accountant Hugh Edwin Hilliard and they were married on December 21, 1947. Most of their married life was spent in the Emory area; Hugh worked in finance for Emory University and was Chief Financial Officer from 1972 to 1984. They also lived briefly in LaGrange, GA in the early 1950’s and a decade later in Warm Springs, GA. They had two daughters and a son.
Genie was active in the life of the University and was a life member of the Emory Woman’s Club and the Emory Hospital Auxiliary. She held PTA offices at W. D. Thomson School and Briarcliff High School and worked extensively at St. Bartholomew’s and Holy Trinity Episcopal Churches. She was a major contributor to her children’s many extra-curricular activities, and after the children left home she found great fulfillment learning about the gift lines at the Napp-Deady Company, where she worked for twenty-five years as a sales representative at the semi-annual gift shows at the Atlanta Gift Mart.
Hugh preceded her in death on August 29, 2007–four months before they would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary. Survivors include their three children and their spouses: Jomary and Robert C. Bolles, Mary Paige and James Powers, and Hugh, Jr. and Annette Walser Hilliard; their seven grandchildren, Christopher Glenn White and wife Amy Kujala White, Stephen McCoy Bolles, Tyler Hilliard White and wife Cristina Hargrove White, Philip Edwin Bolles, John Paul Bolles, Michelle Elizabeth Hilliard, and Monica Paige Hilliard; and four great-grandchildren: Aubrey Catherine White, Cooper Glenn White, Sophia Elizabeth White, and Westyn Adeline White. Genie is also survived by younger brother, Walter R. Pettiss, of Spartanburg, S.C. Her five other siblings, including twin sister Mary Pettiss Klingner, pre-deceased her.
The body was cremated. A memorial service will be held at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Decatur, GA, on Sunday, September 20th at 2:30 pm. A reception will be held at the church parish hall following the service.
The family requests that friends who wish to do so make contributions to Holy Trinity Parish, 515 W. Ponce De Leon Ave., Decatur, Ga, 30030.