Left to right: Luther Midgett; Jennings Bryan "Toby" Tillett, and Elbert Palmer "Pam" Gallop (sitting on the rail)

J.B. TILLETT GAVE MUCH TO PROGRESS FOR OUTER BANKS - Jennings Bryan Tillett, "Tobey" to nearly everybody, is dead. He went to his final resting place Sunday, honored by the largest funeral and the most flowers ever seen at Bethany Methodist Church in Wanchese. The building could not hold the mourning friends who came. Tobey Tillett had been a restless man for 7 years. Before then he had operated the ferry across to Hatteras Island for 25 years. He was the owner and with his father, had founded the ferry business. At one time or another, he had ferried just about every person living on Hatteras Island. He had more friends along the coast than any other man. The business that Mr. Tillett built up, eventually swallowed him up. Tobey Tillett had stuck by this business through great hardship. He was not easily discouraged. When the hurricane of March 1932 swept all his boats away and left him with nothing, he never thought of giving up. On the endorsement of a couple of friends, he borrowed several hundred dollars from an Elizabeth City bank; he used his good credit elsewhere and he got back in business. This ferry made possible better mail service. Mr. Tillett never had been so happy as when he was meeting everybody while running his ferry boat. He cast about for something to do; he built himself a party boat on land leased from the U.S. Wildlife Service, he built a sportsman's center on the south side of the inlet and operated it successfully for 3 years. But he tired of this. His next venture was to undertake the improvement of the old Thos. Tillett homeplace where he was born, some 300 acres of land at Wanchese, skirting Broad Creek. He had been building canals, clearing land and making ready a new homesite. Two days before his death, his tractor had turned over, almost pinning him down, but he escaped. Having told his wife about it, she begged him on Thursday not to use it any more. When he failed to return home Thursday night, a search party found his lifeless body in the darkness of the new plowed field, pinned under the steering wheel of the tractor which had up-ended on him. He was a native of Dare County and resided in Wanchese all of his life. He was the son of Mrs. Mary Tillett and the late William B. Tillett and husband of Mrs. Zeta Daniels Tillett. He owned and operated the Oregon Inlet Ferry Service for over 25 years, having sold it to the State in 1951. He also operated the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center for 3 years before selling his franchise to H.A. Creef. He was a member of the Wanchese Methodist Church. Besides his mother and wife, he is survived by two daughters: Miss Margaret Jean Tillett of Norfolk and Miss Dianne Tillett of Wanchese; four sisters: Mrs. Grady Owens of Norfolk, Mrs. Paul Daniels, Mrs. Sadie Daniels and Mrs. Ruben Vanderslice, all of Wanchese; three brothers: Dewey Tillett, Sam Tillett and Chester Tillett, all of Wanchese. Funeral services were conducted Sunday afternoon at 3 o'clock in the Methodist Church at Wanchese by the Rev. C.L. Warren, pastor, assisted by the rev. C.W. Guthrie, retired Methodist minister. Burial followed in the Cudworth Cemetery.  (The Coastland Times - Friday, Nov. 21, 1958; pgs. 1 & 8)