Annabel L. Pillow, 91, died peacefully at her home Thursday, May 28, 2015. Memorial service: A private service will be held with the family she treasured.
She was born to the late August and Alice McClary on March 31, 1924, in Columbus, Ohio. Annabel graduated in 1941 from Paschal High School in Fort Worth, where she met her future husband, David J. Pillow, M.D., whom she married in September 1944. She attended Sullins Junior College for Girls from 1941 to 1943, graduating with a liberal arts diploma and certificate in dramatics. Annabel was salutatorian, ranking second highest in her graduating class. She worked for the Department of Agriculture during her husband's medical school years, from 1949 to 1953. It was her encouragement and support that empowered her husband to become an outstanding family physician.
When she graduated from college she was torn between her ambition to have a school of dramatics and be a director, or marrying a Christian man and raising children in a Christian home. She chose the latter and dedicated her life to supporting her husband, raising her children and being of service in the community. Annabel was a member of the Tarrant County Medical Society Alliance since 1955 and president from 1979 to 1980. She was a member of the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) from 1964, a passionate sisterhood dedicated to promoting educational opportunities for women that now numbers more than a quarter of a million women in chapters in the United States and Canada. Annabel was president of the P.E.O. Fort Worth area council from 1983 to 1984. She was a volunteer with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, a member of the Oak Crest Woman's Club and the TCU Fine Arts Guild. Her faith in God sustained her and she was a member of First Baptist Church of Colleyville. She was the source from which the Pillow family sprang, the rock on which it was built, the glue that held it together and the wind in the sails of her husband and her five children. She was loved by everyone who had the good fortune to know her.
Annabel was preceded in death by her husband of almost 70 years, David J. Pillow, M.D., in May 2014.
Survivors: Daughter and English teacher, Kathleen Hudson of Kerrville; son and ER physician, David Pillow Jr. of Dallas; son and retired recruiter in the accounting industry, Charlie Pillow of Grapevine; daughter and retired nurse anesthetist, Carolyn Pillow of Avon, Colo.; son and ER physician, John Pillow of Grapevine; 11 grandchildren; 15 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandson.
