Ila Mae Coulter was born March 18, 1935 to Lemuel and Wilma Fortner of Willard, Missouri, and passed away on December 10, 2024 in Netarts, Oregon. Ila married her husband, Philip on October 19, 1956, in Springfield, Missouri. She graduated from Bible College in Springfield Missouri in 1966. After Bible College, Ila and Philip moved to California and started two churches; Bible Baptist Church in Redlands, where they remained for 4 years, and the Highland Baptist Temple, where they spent 37 years in devoted service to God and their church family. Four years of their ministry were spent in Ukraine as missionaries. While in California, Ila worked as a teacher for 10 years, and spent time cooking lunches at Temple Baptist School and several youth camps.
In 2010, Ila and Philip moved to Tillamook, where they would live out the rest of their lives enjoying the beauty of the Oregon Coast. Ila was proud to say that she and Philip had visited all 50 States and 19 different countries together! She greatly enjoyed cooking and making wedding cakes for friends and family, and she loved to sew. She made all of her five children clothing as they grew up. In their final years, Ila and Philip were blessed to live near family. They enjoyed loving, in-home care and the companionship of their daughter Angel, aided by their son David and his wife, Heidi.
Ila was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Ray Fortner and Carl Fortner, her son-in-law Rodney Tyrrel, and her dear husband, Philip, who preceded her in death by just a few months. Still mourning his loss, and now Ila’s, are their children Timothy (Tonaleen) Coulter of Emmett, ID; Kitti (Robbie) Roberts of Emmett, ID; David (Heidi) Coulter of Netarts, OR; Angel Tyrrel of Netarts, OR; and Amber (David) Hunter of Canby, OR. Ila was blessed with thirty-one grandchildren, and forty-eight great-grandchildren, with one more on the way, who will get to learn about their loving Great-Grandmother Ila from the many photos and the treasured stories that will be shared by those she leaves behind.
Ila was laid to rest with her husband at the Willamette National Cemetery in Portland, OR.
A celebration of life will be held Saturday, January 25, 2025, at 1:00 PM at the Ocean Breeze Baptist Church in Tillamook, OR.