Obituary for Eric Iliff

BLOOMINGTON – Eric J. Iliff, 25, 907 S. Oak St., Bloomington, died Tuesday (March 13, 2007) in Normal.

His funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Holy Apostles Orthodox Christian Church, 1670 W. Hovey Ave., Normal, with Father John Dickson Brown officiating. Burial will be in Park Hill Cemetery, Bloomington. Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday at Carmody-Flynn Williamsburg Funeral Home, Bloomington, with a prayer service at 7:30 p.m. Memorials may be made to his church or Hogar Rafael Orphanage, Guatemala City, Guatemala.

Eric was born Oct. 11, 1981, in Normal, the son of John and Monica Kokosinski Iliff. They survive, as do two sisters Hillary Jean and Mary. Other survivors include his grandmother, Patricia Iliff; great-grandmother, Myrtle Hastings; aunts and uncles, Robert (Vicki) Iliff; Jerry (Janice) Kokosinski; John Kokosinski, Hilary Kokosinski; Jeanette Kokosinski.; and many cousins. Eric is also survived by his godmother Isak (David) Griffiths. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents and paternal grandfather.

He was a graduate of University High School, Normal; Illinois State University, Normal; and St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, N.Y. Eric was a founding member of Holy Apostles Orthodox Church, member of SNAP – The Survivor Network of those Abused by Priests and ISU Civic Chorale. He was a kind and generous young man taken from us far too soon. May his memory be eternal!

It is not power that corrupts, but fear. Show humility, show fearlessness.
adapted from the Nobel presentation to Aung San Suu Kyi, Oslo, Norway, 10 Dec. 1991