Beloved mother and devoted wife, Lillian May Gerring Ward was a long time resident of Willingboro, NJ before moving to Lansdowne, VA and recently to Sunrise at Countryside in Potomac Falls. A former employee of the Willingboro Public School System, she worked at the Hawthorne Elementary School.

The daughter of Stanley Godfrey Gerring and Lilly Louisa Coker, a family of Australian heritage pioneers, Lillian was born in Williamstown, Victoria on April 19, 1924. During WWII, she met her future husband John on a trolley while going to St. Kilda Beach. John, of Philadelphia, PA was a U.S. Marine on R&R fresh from battle of Pelelieu. What began as love at first sight became an enduring marriage until John's passing in 1992. The eldest of five children, Lillian survived her parents and siblings Betty, Edie, Joan and Keith.

While Master Sergeant John Ward, USMC(Retired) served his country in Korea and two tours of Vietnam, Lillian, affectionately known as "The Gunny," proudly raised two daughters and three sons.

Lillian is survived by children John Ward Jr., Betty Orlopp, Janet Kent and Keith Ward and his wife Susan. Her youngest son David Ward, PFC, USMC, passed in 2014. She is further survived by her grandchildren Steven Ward, Robert Orlopp, Jason Ward, Richard Orlopp, Brandon Bosch, Colleen Bjork, Captain Kristin Ward, USAF, Jaclyn Stamps, Sarah Ward, Grace Adams Ward and step grandchildren Keith Orlopp Jr. and Stephen Kent; by her great grandchildren Robert Orlopp Jr., Michael Orlopp, Harrison Ward, USAF, Natalie Ward, Madison Bjork and Grayson Bjork.

A gathering of family and friends will be held for Mrs. Ward on Wednesday, March 25, 2015 at Colonial Funeral Home of Leesburg, 201 Edwards Ferry Rd, Leesburg, VA 20176 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. She will join her husband at the Brigadier General William C. Doyle Cemetery in Wrightstown, NJ.