Obituary of John Charles Cilley

John Charles Cilley, age 75, went to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on May 7, 2017, in Twin Falls, Idaho, after a long and courageous battle with cancer. He was held and surrounded by his wife and three sons. John was born October 8, 1941, in Yuba City, California, to Earl and Cecile Dunlevy Cilley. John lived his younger years in Yuba City, Petaluma and Berkeley, California. After his father died in 1949, he and his mother and sister moved to Shingletown, California, where he finished grade school. Then attended Anderson High School for two years and graduated from Enterprise High School in Redding, California, in 1959. During his last high school years he enjoyed cooking at the original Lassen Park Lodge by Reflection Lake in the summer and later driving school bus for the Manton School district while attending college. He is a graduate of Shasta Junior College in Redding, California, with a police science degree. He went on to graduate from The University of California in Chico, California. John served as a member of the Army National Guard for 6 years. He joined the Redding Police Department in November of 1962 and served the City of Redding for 15 years. He later went on to work for the Continental Corporation as an insurance adjuster. Until operating his own insurance adjusting company, Idavada Claims in Twin Falls, Idaho. He greatly enjoyed police work and insurance adjusting, however, his greatest passion was sharing his faith by writing short stories of Christian fiction for Regular Baptist Press and Nazarene Press. He always said he would be a full time writer if he didn't have to eat and feed his family. During John's illness he and Mary Ann's church family at Grace Baptist Church showed amazing love and support in more ways than can be listed here. After 30 years in the same home in Twin Falls their neighbors were willing and wonderful hands on help to the family. John was preceded in death by his father, Earl Cilley; mother, Cecile Cilley Jerome; sister, Catherine Cilley Garrison and nephew, Dirk Garrison. John is survived by his wife of 52 years Mary Ann and sons Matthew (Jamie); Stephen (fiancé Jessie); and Joshua. Grandchildren, Liam, Noah, Emma, Jefferson, Emily, Emerson and Simon Cilley. Brother in law, Michael Hendrix (Viviane Mattey) and two nieces Margaret Ivey and Beth Howe. Services will be May 15th at 12:00 noon at Grace Baptist Church, 798 Eastland Drive North, Twin Falls, Idaho. Burial will be at a later date at Dry Creek cemetery in Boise, Idaho. Memorial gifts may be made to the Boise Rescue Mission or Twin Falls Christian Academy. Memorials may be left with the funeral staff the day of the services. Family and friends are encouraged to share memories at www.rosenaufuneralhome.com ~ John Charles Cilley 1941-2017 Dad passed away at home surrounded and held tightly by his family on a day covered with wave after wave of spring thunderstorms. John was born on October 8, 1941, in Yuba City, California. His father, Earl, was a photographer, and his mother, Cecile, was an artist. They moved to Berkeley where Earl died suddenly when John was eight years old. Cecile moved John and his sister, Cathy, to Shingletown, California. After high school, John joined the Army. As he put it, too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam. Dad was drawn to occupations of responsibility: bus driver at 17, Army soldier, police officer and detective, champion marksman, husband, father, store owner, claims adjuster and firm founder, church treasurer, mentor, writer, and fisherman with little time to go fishing. Dad moved us from Redding, California in 1977 to Boise, Idaho, where he eventually began his adjusting career, which brought more moves in the next few years, Boise to Twin Falls to Salem then back to Twin Falls, where he and mom would settle into the house that would be their home for the next three decades. John lived and worked with a quiet dignity and grace that life, aging, failure and success, and death could not diminish. Dad was a man of emotion so deep few knew it was even there. Matched no less by his subtle sense of humor. He is survived by his wife, sons, nieces, daughters-in-law and grandchildren. And a few now-celebrating neighborhood cats.