Ilene Josephine Coley Hylton

In Lieu of Flowers Send Donation to American Heart Association* Ilene's Heart Fund AHA-Clinica de Salud del Valle de Salinas* 611 Abbott Street Salinas, CA 93901 To view the service via YouTube use the link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IC1wgsuofz8 To view the service via Facebook use the link below: https://www.facebook.com/ZandersFuneralLIVE/ Ilene Josephine Coley Hylton was born in Bocas del Torro, Republic of Panama. Her father Cecil Clifford Coley Verley and his wife Phoebe Rowena Hyde Sutton emigrated from Jamaica to Panama as British subjects. West Indians comprised the majority of the Panama Canal Zone workforce. As was the case with her older sister Amy Eunice Coley de Boyce (deceased), Ilene graduated from the University of Panama receiving the highest honors for her thesis. After studying at the San Diego State University, Ilene was recruited to teach Spanish at Salinas High School. In 1967 she emigrated to Salinas with her daughter Marisel Elizabeth Brown Coley. Beginning in 1970, Ilene became an education specialist with the Salinas Unified School District Regional Occupational Program. She taught retail merchandizing, business data processing, and medical office patient registration and billing. Ilene returned to the traditional classroom in 1982 at Alisal High School teaching business subjects and for a period serving as Alisal's business program chairperson. Ilene established Alisal's Future Business Leaders of America chapter. She supported similar efforts of high school facility in Monterey County. In 1991 the California Department of Education recognized Ilene as a leader in high school career/job readiness programs. Ilene retired to Orlando, Florida in 1993; however, she continued teaching at two local Seventh Day Adventist schools. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Apopka where she sang in the choir; attended Adult Sunday School; and participated in the Prayer and Women's Ministries. Ilene was a very gifted seamstress and needlework enthusiast. She blended those two gifts by making quilts as a member of several quilting circles. Ilene will be remembered as an educator with a fierce belief in the power of each teacher to change the trajectory as a child's life and the demand God's love places on each of us to be our brother's or sister's keeper. Ilene survived by her daughter Marisel Elizabeth Brown Coley of Oakland, CA and Gina Reyes, her chosen second daughter of Stockton, CA. Nieces Carla Boyce-Smith and Lucia Boyce of Panama; cousins Rogelio Garrido Eastman and Catalina Garrido Eastman in Panama; and Thalia Melgarejo Garza grandniece and her daughter Aime Imani Garze of Austin, TX.

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Ilene Josephine Coley Hylton

October 15, 1928 - February 25, 2024