Anthony (Tony) J. Tillo
January 4,1967- March 18, 2024
On the morning of March 18, 2024, our beloved Anthony J. Tillo (Tony) had a Cardiopulmonary Arrest, and the Lord escorted him to Heaven.
Tony was born on January 4,1967 to Joseph and Nan (Applegate) Tillo, and he would complete their beautiful family.
Tony’s younger years included spending a lot of time outdoors hunting with his dad and brother, fishing, camping, riding his mini-bike, and bicycle. He loved to shoot his bb guns and his twenty-two with his dad and brother, Mike. With the help of his dad, they spent time in the garage building go-carts which would be the beginning of his love for racing cars.
Running around in the neighborhood, hunting treasures, playing cops and robbers, ice-skating, and building forts with his brother and sister, Mike and Jodee, was the highlight of childhood. Eating C-Rations and pretending they were in the Army; all took place in the field in front of his house. Tony was a bit mischievous and the fort building days were interrupted by an accidental fire. Fire trucks and the whole nine yards had to help with that bit of fun! Tony also played basketball, wrestled, was on both an arm wrestling and pool league.
Tony had many unique talents and found joy in the silliest things like learning to ride a Unicycle, playing the Juice Harp, and mastering the art of using a Sling Shot, which didn’t do him any favors. He decided it would be fun to use a Skunk as target practice, only to find out what an excellent shot he was when he hit the skunk in the scent gland and was showered with the aroma of all times! His mamma was not happy!
Tony was a master at playing cards, dice, doing puzzles, and board games alongside his mom. He spent a lot of time with the extended family both on the Applegate side and Tillo side. He spent a lot of time at his Aunt Margarets and with Grandma Applegate at the Applegate Homestead.
Another favorite was spending a lot of time at the Tillo family cabin, running around in the woods, fishing and playing in the creek. This would be a big part of why he loved the outdoors so much!
Tonys parents made sure his life was full of love, fun, adventures, and spending time with family which is why he was such a well-rounded, beautiful, loving, caring person.
In his early adulthood years Tony had a great passion for Stock Car racing. He spent many hours in the garage with his dad, brother, Grandpa Joe, and many friends building and fine tuning his stock car(s) for the weekly summer races. Tony raced in the Super Stock Class and became one the best competitors on the dirt track.
During his high school years, Tony fell in Love with the girl next door, literally, and eventually married his high school sweetheart, Tina (Breidenbach) Tillo, on September 1,1995. They met for the first time when they were 10 years old! Tony was immensely proud of this and never hesitated to tell people how long he loved his sweetheart. Together they had two beautiful children, Kelli and Joey. Tony was an immensely proud father and loved his kids so very much.
The love that his parents instilled in his heart, he poured out to his family. He spent time sharing his love of hunting, fishing, motorcycles, camping with his little family.
Tony was blessed with his daughter Kelli, and when she was little, he spent his days off doting on her, getting her all dressed up including curling her hair making sure she was all dolled for when mommy got home from work. He spent countless hours running around with his little sidekick.
Six years later he was blessed with his son, Joey. Tony could not wait to get home to have cuddle time with his boy. That was a favorite pastime for both. He spent a lot of time with both kids on the 4 wheelers taking them for rides and found joy in all their accomplishments. They were the light of his life.
Tony spent many years working for Associated Foods, working in the warehouse. He became one of the best forklift drivers and won many awards when they had the yearly Forklift Rodeos!
When his time was done at Associated Foods in 2001, Tony and Tina started their first business. This would mark the beginning of a few businesses they would own. They opened an auto detailing business called Auto-B-Clean! This business thrived and became one of the best detail shops in town, as Tony was an incredibly detailed person by nature, so this matched perfectly with his talents.
In 2005, they sold Auto-B-Clean. Tony and Tina would start their next adventure in business with detailing new homes, making sure they were perfect for the new owners. They did this for a few years and then Tony started his career in the home building industry by taking a project manager position with Sierra Custom Homes. Tony loved this position and made numerous friends. His knowledge, and kind, compassionate nature would earn him the reputation of one the most loved and relied upon persons that worked for Sierra, among many other colleagues in the industry.
In 2015, Tony’s desire to become an entrepreneur once again came to light and together, Tony and Tina started T-Tillo Contracting. He started with doing remodel jobs and eventually narrowed it down to installing all kinds of flooring. Tony was an expert flooring installer. He was known for being very quick, efficient, and very proud of his flooring knowledge and skills. Tony would also become well known for the guy who always wore shorts no matter what the season. He took a lot of flak for that, but it became one of his trademark looks that everyone expected, and people would be in shock if he wore pants, which was very rare!
While building his business, Tony and Tina had the opportunity to build their dream home. It was the first project they did from the ground up with the help of many friends he had made along the way including, his dad, Joe Tillo, The Peccia Family, Robert Havens, Brian Ricks, Ken Mashek, Jamey Cariveau, and Mike Lizar. He was so grateful to have help from some of his dearest friends. Tony and Tina moved into their home September 2019 and spent some of happiest days ever in this home of which they were so proud.
Tony would continue to flourish in the flooring business, but recently had decided to become a Project manager once again for Sierra Custom homes that was under new management. He was craving more challenges, and this was a perfect fit for him, and Sierra. He was so excited for this next chapter, that was to start on April1, 2024, but God had other projects in store for Tony.
Tony was so full of life, love, kindness, laughter and so many things. He is dearly missed by the love of his life and soulmate, Tina, his kids Kelli and Joey and all his family and friends.
Tony was preceded in death by his mother Nan (Applegate) Tillo.
Tony is survived by the Love of his life, Tina Tillo of Clancy, MT, Daughter- Kelli Eason-Tillo (Eli) of Rio Rancho, NM, Son- Joey Tillo of Butte, MT, Father- Joe Tillo of East Helena, Brother- Mike (Sandy)Tillo of Butte, MT, Sister- Jodee (Mike) Lemm of Big Arm, MT. Niece- Mykell Lemm and her son Deegan of Big Arm, MT. Niece- Leesah Lemm-Smith (Forrest) of Whitefish, MT. Nephew- DJ Tillo of Butte, MT, Nephew- Zach (Shonda) Tillo and their children, Bridger and Cally of Butte, MT. Sister in-law and Brother in-law- Tammy (Nick) Rains and their children, Skyler and Penny of Minden, NV. Brother in-law-Brian (Jennifer) Breidenbach.
On April 27, 2024, there will be a Celebration of Life for Tony at the Knights of Columbus located at 1867 Washington St., Helena, MT. We invite you to join us from 12:00-5:00pm to share your stories and memories of this wonderful man.
If you wish to, a Tony Tillo Benefit fund has been set up at Valley Bank of Helena to help the family with the final costs.
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
Noon to 5:00 PM
Saturday April 27, 2024
Knights of Columbus
1867 Washington St
Helena, MT
Service Schedule
Celebration of Life
Noon to 5:00 PM
Saturday April 27, 2024
Knights of Columbus
1867 Washington St
Helena, MT
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Memories
Read the thoughts and memories, then feel free to add your own.
Ron Weber says
My sympathy to all of the Tillo family, I raced with Tony and what a time we had. Prayers during a difficult time.
LUCI PEARSON says
Tony was such a wonderful son-in-law. He was always available when I needed something done at my home, whatever I needed that I couldn’t do myself I would call Tony and he would come over and do the chore for me. When he used to bring Kelly and Joey over for me to take care of at my daycare, he would always bring me these delicious cinnamon raisin bagels from The Bagel Company and they were so good! It was always such a nice surprise. One time he brought me over some beef barley soup that he had made his self and boy was it delicious. Tony was a very thoughtful kind loving man. He took such good care of my Tina and my grandchildren Kelly and Joey. He always thought of everybody else before he thought of himself and was always willing to help anyone who needed his help. I loved him very very much and so did Heavenly Father. The timing was not right for those of us left behind, but the Lord needed him for bigger things. He will be missed so much and he already is, by me and his precious family and friends! Fly high Tony Fly High! The angels are guiding you home. And we will all see you again when our time on Earth is done, and our work is finished here. I love you Tony!
Dana Petersen says
My thoughts and prayers are with the Tillo family in this hard time.i do remember the fort building days and bike riding around the neighborhood. I will always cherish those memories, Tony will be dearly missed.
Kim Parvinen says
I have many fond memories of Tony from Associated Foods. The number one is what a kind soul he was. I know he left an imprint on many lives and will be greatly missed. I lift you all up in prayer and pray you feel the presence of the Lord and His peace and and healing until you all meet again someday. God Bless
Tammy Rains says
Tony is my brother-in-law and I have known him since my dad moved our family to Montana in 1978. We lived in the same neighborhood as his family. I have lots of childhood memories of him.
Tony was the favorite uncle to my little girls and they all had cute little pet names for each other. He was so good with them when we would come visit every summer. He and my husband were very close and we were always there for Tony when he needed anything done around the house or on the property when we would visit every summer. We had many fun summers with the family. There’s a huge hole in my heart and it aches, especially for my sister.
We love you Tony so much. Please Tony, keep watch over my precious sister, Tina.
Kerriann Matuszek-Hanson says
Blessings on your family during this hard time! Tony is and always will remain one of the best men I have ever known! Tina, you are a lucky woman to have had such a great man choose you to be his wife! It is hard to believe that such a strong relationship would be separated by such a tragedy! However, it is only of this world, and the Lord has such wonderful plans for all of you in the future! I love you, Tina if you need anything you call me! During all those card games, we played, Tony always had the trump card. Unfortunate as the timing is, Tony trumped us again, as he is with our Lord!
Nick Rains says
I am grateful to have know this man, and to call him my brother! We love you with all of our heart uncle Larry.
Patricia Buckingham says
My heart breaks for the whole Tillo family. They have lost an amazing man. I met Tony when my family moved to Canyon Ferry Rd in 1976. Tony was this cute little kid who smiled all the time. As he grew older, his personality just bloomed. He was a fun and loving kid. My husband’s brother and family moved to the neighborhood in about 1978. When my niece Tina was in junior high, my husband and I just knew Tony and Tina were soulmates. We both agreed they would someday be together. I find it hard to say good bye to Tony, so I will just say, “Tony, we will catch ya on the flip side.” Love to all the Tillo family. Patti
Carolyn Alvstad says
I am honored to have Tony as a nephew. A life such as his leaves so much sadness upon it’s departure.
He will be sorely missed by his family and friends. Gone but never forgotten!
My hope is that the family will be graced with comfort in the days ahead.
Deepest condolences to all the family and friends.