March 15, 2026, 82, Sneads Ferry – Linwood Earl Tillman, resident of Sneads Ferry, passed away at home, early Sunday morning, March 15, 2026, one day shy of his 83rd birthday.
Though born in Pitt County, he was raised as an only child by Norman and Mary Alice Newell Tillman, in the Seven Springs area and graduated from Seven Springs High School. It was around the age of 19, he learned of his adoption. His birth parents were Larry Jones and Doris Elks Jones Oakley, and he learned that he was one of 13 children. He and they made contact and immediately “took to each other,” and haven’t looked back.
He had been employed by the NC Forestry Service, had been a truck driver for D. T. Grantham Trucking, had been a deputy with Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, and had been a policeman for the Town of Mount Olive. He had training to be a welder and an electrician, but perhaps, his happiest years were recent, when he farmed at Magnolia and raised cattle and llamas. During his tenure with the forestry service, he fulfilled the role of being “Smokey the Bear” at various functions, and he was recognized for his fire-fighting efforts in the great fire in Montana in the early 70’s. . An avid outdoorsman, he loved nature, enjoyed hunting and fishing. He loved serving his fellowman, and had been a volunteer with Dudley Fire Department.
A service at which Linwood’s life will be remembered is planned for Thursday, March 19, at 5:00 p.m. at Tyndall Funeral Home in Mount Olive, and will be followed with a time of greeting and fellowshipping with the family. Flowers are welcome, and so are memorial gifts to Onslow County Senior Citizens Center for Sneads Ferry, 4955 Richlands Hwy., Jacksonville, NC 28450, or , or to one’s local animal shelter.
Mr. Tillman is survived by his two daughters, Diane T. Barwick and partner, Carolyn Boyd, of Sneads Ferry, and Betty Lynn T. Lanier of Dudley; three grandsons, Justin Barwick and wife, Tabitha, of New Bern, John Patrick Price of Dudley, and Landon Lanier and fiance, Liz McMullin, of Dudley; two great-grandchildren, Harper Barwick and Colton Bright. Also surviving are two sisters, Helen J. Stancill of Ayden, and Carolyn O. Ginn and husband, Morris, of Greenville; five brothers, Ronnie Jones of Greenville, Jesse Oakley and wife, Belinda, of Fuquay-Varina, Charles Oakley and wife, Wanda, of Greenville, Gene Oakley of Grifton, and Gary Oakley and wife, Diane, of Montgomery, Texas; and numerous nieces and nephews, and their families.\
He was preceded in death by both his birth parents and adoptive parents, and brothers, Bill, Larry, and Frank Jones; and sisters, Hazel J. Faulkner and Joanne Oakley.
