Howard "Jerry" G. Hill
April 30, 1932 - January 4, 2013
Obituary
Howard “Jerry” G. Hill
Jerry was born April 30, 1932 in Seattle and passed away January 4, 2013 in Federal Way, Washington. He grew up in the Seattle area but his family relocated to Curlew during his high school years, where he graduated from Curlew High School.
He belonged to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity and graduated from the University of Washington in 1954 with a degree in Economics. While at the University of Washington, Jerry met Berniece, the love of his life, they married in 1954 and were together for the last 58 years.
After graduating from the U of W, courtesy of the US Army, Jerry was drafted in 1955 and served until 1957. While Jerry was at basic training in San Francisco, Berniece gave birth to their first child, Tom ($5.00 charge from the Army). Subsequently, Jerry was stationed at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas where Denise was born (at a cost of $7.50). After his time in the military they had two more daughters, Lavonne and Jeanna, to complete their family.
Jerry owned and operated Aetna Building Maintenance from 1957 to 1987. He was a very successful businessman who took pride in his accomplishments. He was active in his community as a member of Kiwanis and was heavily involved in the Seattle Seafair Commodores from 1969 until 1992, serving s Commandant in 1975.
Jerry and his wife traveled all over the world and took the opportunity to golf some of the best golf courses in the world. Jerry’s favorite was St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland. Jerry especially enjoyed the annual “boys week” of golf with his son, Tom, and two sons-in-law, Gordon and Dave. They hit various golf courses in the Northwest.
They retired to a life of leisure, travel and golf, finally settling in Sun Lakes, Arizona where he could golf year round. Jerry and Berniece took cruises to Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, Fiji, to mention a few. They did river cruises in Europe on the Rhine and to the St. Lawrence Seaway in Canada. They went to Seattle’s sister city of Bergen, Norway, where the met the King of Norway.
Jerry is survived by his wife Berniece; his sister Iris Mill; their four children, Tom, Denise, Lavonne, and Jeanna as well as 10 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren.
Jerry led a very full life. He loved life, a good joke and had many long friendships. Jerry had been battling brain cancer for the last 19 months. He made a “bucket list” and fulfilled them all before being taken by cancer. Jerry was happy that he was able to spend his last Christmas with the entire family.
The family will be having a celebration of his life at the home of his daughter, Denise, on January 19th from 2:00 – 6:00pm. You are welcome to join us for a toast to his life and share stories.
Donations can be made in Jerry’s name to Franciscan Hospice, who were very caring during his final days.
As a former neighbor, Jerry was a vibrant personality and added fun and the good life to the neighborhood around Angle Lake. My sympathy to the family in their loss of husband, father and grandfather. May his family find peace in all the pleasant memories they have of Jerry and his many accomplishments.
I will miss you Uncle Jerry. You had a wonderful sense of humor and loved life to the fullest. I will always treasure the memories from my childhood to present.
To my Dear Uncle Jerry, you did so many loving things for me as a young adult. and after keith and I got married, I remember loving times with you when you were so kind to keith and I after we got married. and when we moved to Seattle how much I appreciated coming over to your house and visiting.You and Aunt Berniece were so loving and giving to us. Thank you for showing love and kindness. I remember how you teased me. of course you knew it bothered me!!! but, I knew you only did it because you loved me. You have some great adventures ahead of you. You will be missed. May God Bless. Your Niece Pat
Jerry, I have to thank you for giving me my first “real” job working at Aetna Building Maintenance. I learned so much working at Aetna and am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work for such a great person. My sympathies to Berniece, your kids and grandkids.
Jerry, the countless memories we have of our times together in Sun Lakes will remain with us for as long as we are still here on this earth. The many times you called at three in the afternoon and said,”Whatever you were having for dinner, put it in the fridg. You’re coming over for dinner here!” The day we made Ravioli together (what a mess!!). Sorry Berniece, I know you had to clean up the mess. When we left Sun Lakes and came back to visit, you insisted on a party, and invited all our former friends there. Our golf outings, our winter visit to Sedona, our trip to Pismo Beach and visit to Morrow Bay. All such fun times! We’ll miss you, Jerry.