Lillian "Lillie" Jean Handoe French's Obituary
Lillian (Lilly) Jean Handoe French was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania to Louis and Jean Handoe. She is survived by her husband of 48 years, Keith, an older sister, Catherine Britt, a younger brother Joseph Handoe and wife Elizabeth, a younger sister, Camille, Obnamie, preceded her in death. Three nephews and one niece also survived her. Lilly was a member of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Pennsylvania in childhood and Bethany Baptist in Puyallup of recent.
Lilly was born with dual hearing loss, developed a lazy eye at one year old, and had surgery on her eye at age six which remedied it and experienced a severe appendectomy and a near death experience at twelve years old which required three surgeries and a long hospital stay. Later in life, she wore hearing aids.
Living with these adversities was a definite struggle. From being made fun of to not being able to clearly hear teachers if they were not facing her, she still succeeded at school. Through all these adversities, she became a “born again” Christian at 13 and was determined to pursue her dream of being a teacher. She faithfully served her Lord Jesus Christ with the gift of evangelism and touched many lives by her life testimony. Lilly discovered “Chick Tracts” which were cartoon style gospel messages. She joyfully shared them with many people in many places.
After graduating from a Christian college, Bob Jones University, Lilly replaced her 3rd grade teacher who retired and then transferred to 4th grade. Then later she chose to pursue the Department of Defense overseas schools. She accepted a position in Okinawa, Japan for four years. It was there she met her future husband, Keith. He soon received orders to Maryland, so she chose to pursue travel and see Europe which led her to a teaching job in at Bitburg Air Force Base in Germany. She traveled through many European countries and learned to ski in Innsbruck, Austria where she even placed 2nd in a down-hill slalom there. She declared “I’m so glad to have had such a unique opportunity.”
Finally, she returned to Pennsylvania where she accepted a marriage proposal from Captain Keith French as they had stayed in touch while they were separated. They married in late summer and made their first home in Maryland.
Keith was transferred to his home state of Washington. Lilly then taught at a Native American school, a Christian school, and a public school. Her last teaching job before retirement was in the Bethel School District where she taught vocal music to elementary students. Staff members would ask her how·. she can teach music with a hearing impairment. She responded by saying: “With digital hearing aids and lip reading I learned as a youngster; I can get along in the classroom environment.” She used the opportunity to teach children to be sensitive to others who have impairments and, in her case, speaking face to face, speaking clearly, and speaking slowly.
Lilly also loved teaching English to students from all ethnicities and many different foreign lands which she did each afternoon after teaching her music students. At that time, it was called the ESL program.
Lilly taught for 32 years before she retired. She made every child feel special, but especially had a heart for a child with impairments.
Lilly lived and taught a very important ideal: “Do not let obstacles or physical adversities keep you from fulfilling your dreams. Be persistent and do your best to focus on your goal. With God’s help, you can achieve it.”
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