Allison D. Hillerman passed away on August 14, 2023, at “The Cascades of Grass Valley” assisted living in Grass Valley, CA with her husband at her side. She was 72 years old.

A memorial service was held in September of 2023 in Yorktown, VA.

Allison was born and raised in North Syracuse, NY by her parents Ray and Margaret Marley. She attended a convent catholic school until her senior year and finished in a public high school in North Syracuse. She earned an associate degree in art from Mohawk Valley Community College in Utica, NY.

Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s she enjoyed soft rock music. Her favorite singers were Jackson Brown and Neil Young, as well as Cosby, Stills, Nash & Young. She also enjoyed the folk and country music of that era.

She met her husband Eric in Syracuse in 1972 and they were married a year later. She followed him in his US Air Force career enjoying life in CA, Belgium, OK, and settling in Hampton Roads, VA 1982-2022 enjoying Allisons extended family and friends on the east coast. In 2022 after her family had all passed away, they moved to Grass Valley, CA to be close to Eric’s family.

She began her artist career in 1972 working for family run print shops doing sales and event announcements for newspapers inserts, publication cover designs, and anything else that needed an artistic touch. She enjoyed life in Belgium from 1977-80 with her husband’s military assignment. In 1980 she was the primary artist for an Oklahoma City’s newspaper and then found artistic work with the Tinker AFB multimedia facility. Allison began her civil service career as an artist for the US Army at Fort Eustis VA in 1986 and retired from her civil service at fort Eustis in 2010. As an Army civilian artist, she enjoyed making recruiting and other PR displays, designing conference and briefing aids for publication and electronic displays, creating training illustrations and video animation. She also filled in for the army photographers on maneuver locations, special celebrations and PR events on base.

Allison enjoyed and excelled at many different artistic crafts, drawing, painting, bead work, and bead jewelry. She was an active and respected artist and member of the local bead guild in the Yorktown, VA area. She also enjoyed knitting, crochet, cross stitch needlework, quilting and other fiber arts. She inherited early onset dementia from both her parents and in her last years she enjoyed coloring in her books. She was a lifelong dog mom and her many four-legged children enjoyed long and pampered lives. Visiting petting zoos and alpaca farms was a favorite lifelong pastime. After her brother’s death in 2004, Allison a devoted daughter, was the primary caregiver for her mother’s long and demanding dementia journey. Allison’s kindness and love of family and friends was a beautiful example of how life should be lived.

Special thanks to her cousin Mary Garlatti of Syracuse, NY and lifelong friends Peter and Anita Parisi of Utica, NY, Henry and Stormy Hudson of Williamsburg, VA, her many friends that she made her last years active and rewarding. As well as the staff of Cascades Memory Care in Grass Valley.

Allison is survived by her husband Eric, nephew Christopher and Julie (Dye) Marley, and their son Noah of Oklahoma City, OK, her Aunt Dona Fish of American Canyon, CA and many cousins. She is proceeded in death by her parents Raymond and Margaret (Fish) Marley of Syracuse, NY, brother Kevin G Marley, niece Erin Marley of Roanoke, VA, grandparents: Herold J. and Elizabeth (Davies) Marley of Cicero, NY and Charles S. and Honorine M. (La Tart) Fish of Navario, NY.

The family ask if you wish to make a donation please donate to the Alzheimer’s Association local or national.