The Real Bill Hill
By D.A. Brockett
The Smothers Brothers show debuted in 1967, the same year Bill Hill wrote his first annual Christmas newsletter. It was a long time coming. Every December, he’d trudge through smug “look-how-perfect-our-lives-are” missives until he’d finally had enough. Determined to glamorize the mundane and accentuate the commonplace, he set fingers to typewriter and began:
December 1967
“Dear Friend and
Relatives, I’ve been wanting to write a Christmas letter for several years,
but it hardly seemed worthwhile mimeographing three copies. However, we heard
from a long-lost relative this year, so I decided to go for it.”
For more than 40 years, Bill went for it. He created wacky adventures starring his average, slightly dysfunctional family as they moved from a 1200-square-foot abode with a lime-green 1961 Studebaker in the driveway to the present.
No one was spared Bill’s jocular pen. His longsuffering wife, Barbara, was parodied as a whistle-happy, tooth-challenged, try-any-new-endeavor gal. His children — Charley, Jack, and Lee-Ann — dazzled their peers and parents by winning eighth place in a school art contest or learning to swish their own cloth diapers in the toilet. The Studebaker cruised through various stages of disrepair, remaining a principle cog of Bill’s newsletters long after it had been scrapped.
Bill and Barb
Unscathed by his perennial teasing, the children blossomed splendidly, and Barb and Bill’s marriage thrived. The newsletters continued even after Bill, a beloved business professor at Colorado Mountain College, retired. That was when the couple moved from Steamboat Springs to Grand Junction.
Humor is Bill’s close companion, but in 2004, it almost abandoned him. Unrelenting back pain led to an MRI and a diagnosis of back and lung cancer. How could this happen to him? He exercised regularly, had never smoked, and was in pretty good shape for a 69-year-old.
Barb and the kids were devastated, even though Bill assured them he’d be OK. Praying that this was a mistake, he suffered in silence. He pretended he didn’t have cancer. Finally, several doctor friends convinced him to face the truth and get treatment.
His Christmas newsletter at the
time hinted at the serious turn of events: “I’ve traveled a lot of miles and some of the roads were pretty
muddy. It’s hard to imagine how I got ‘over the hill’ when I never reached
the top.”
Writing a book wasn’t Bill’s first thought when he began chemotherapy treatments, but as time went on he remembered a back-burner project gathering dust—compiling his newsletters into book form. He needed the diversion, and it would be another legacy to his family.
Bill went to a local Colorado Independent Publisher’s Association seminar to learn something about the publishing process. Captivated when Bill read an excerpt, attendees encouraged him to “go for it.” A bit unsure, he did.
Time was an uncertain commodity, so Bill chose the route of self-publishing
through Lifetime Chronicle Press in Montrose. He accompanied his newsletters
with world events and real milestones of the Hill family. Our Slightly Used
Studebaker, Forty Hilarious Years with a Wacky American Family was published
in December 2008. It garnered rave reviews from Bill’s favorite fans: his wife
and kids.
Experiencing cancer and impending mortality is traumatic. Even so, the human spirit harvests blessings from unfortunate circumstances.
Bill wanted to handle his situation courageously, to be an example to his children and grandchildren. Barb suggested that his illness could be a way to serve, and when Bill realized there were no men’s support groups, he joined forces with Debra Hesse of St. Mary’s Pavilion and formed M.A.C.H.O., Men Against Cancer Helping Others. Fourteen men, bewildered and unsure how to deal with their illnesses, gathered for that first meeting. The group continues to grow.
Bill and Debra Hess M.A.C.H.O meeting
Bill recently retired from the board of M.A.C.H.O. The cancer has progressed to his brain, but he’s comforted in knowing his family is following his example of service. He’s lost his hearing, but he isn’t deaf to his own battle cry: Trust God, think positively, don’t feel sorry for yourself, make each day a great day — and laugh a lot.
Sadly, Bill Hill died of cancer on June 25, 2009. I went to his funeral and there was so much humor in the stories about Bill that it wasn't until I was leaving that it suddenly hit me Bill was no longer here. That's when I started crying.
Here's his Daily Sentinel obituary:
William J. Hill April 20, 1934 - June 25, 2009 William J. "Bill"
Hill, beloved husband, father, grandfather and friend, passed away peacefully
on June 25, 2009. He lived a full and productive life right up to the end.
Bill was born in Hebron, Nebraska of loving parents, William and Ruth Hill. He
graduated from Hebron High School in 1952 where he participated in football,
tennis, drama, and other school activities. He graduated from Nebraska
Wesleyan University in Lincoln in 1956 and did graduate work at the
Universities of Nebraska and Oklahoma. In college, he was the college
conference tennis champion, president of his fraternity, named to "Who's
Who in American Colleges', and was involved in numerous other college
activities. He married Barbara Clark on March 16, 1956 and they had three
children, Charley, Jack and Lee-Ann. After college, he was named executive
director of the Alumni Association at Wesleyan. This began 25 years of
development work in various colleges and medical centers including the
University of Oklahoma; the Snyder Memorial Research Foundation in Winfield,
Kansas; Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas; Bemidji State University in
Minnesota and Swedish Medical Center in Denver. He then became Executive
Director of the Steamboat Chamber Resort Association, and started the Yampa
Valley Foundation, where he directed the founding of the Alpine Campus branch
of Colorado Mountain College (CMC) in Steamboat Springs, Colorado in 1981. He
spent the next 16 years teaching business at CMC, and serving as the the
Executive Director of the Yampa Valley Foundation. After retiring in 1997,
Bill and Barb moved to Grand Junction where he participated in various
organizations and activities, including the Small Business Development Center,
the Convention and Tourism Board, Meals on Wheels, and Monument Presbyterian
Church. He founded MACHO, Men Against Cancer Helping Others, which is a cancer
support group for men at St. Mary's Hospital. Bill hoped it would be a model
for similar groups around the country. Bill was an excellent tennis player,
avid golfer, and enjoyed traveling. He built "Cow Chip Country
Club", a pasture golf course at his summer cabin at Steamboat Lake. He
recently published a book, "Our Slightly Used Studebaker", a
collection of 40 years of his satirical Christmas letters to friends and
relatives. Bill was an eternal optimist. His formula for creating a
"perfect day" was to do something nice for others, enjoy family and
friends, experience something new, laugh and have fun, stay fit and be
positive with faith in God. Bill is survived by his wife, Barbara of Grand
Junction; sons, Charley and Jack; daughter, Lee-Ann; grandchildren, Morgan,
McKenzie, Henry and Kamaria; sister, Willa (Don) Vollertsen; brother-in-law
and sister-in-law, Jack and Judy Clark, and many extended family members. In
lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Bill Hill Memorial Fund at
Hospice & Palliative Care of Western Colorado and the Hill Scholarship
Fund at the Yampa Valley Community Foundation in Steamboat Springs. Bill's
memorial service will take place at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1st at
Monument Presbyterian Church in Grand Junction, and a celebration of Bill's
life will take place later this summer in Steamboat Springs. Arrangements have
been entrusted to Mesa Funeral Service.
To order Bill’s book, send a check for $15 (postage paid) to 2938 El Torro Road, Grand Junction, CO 81503, or e-mail Barbara at billbarbhill@msn.com for other options.