Essie Mae (Thompson) HILL

HILL, THOMPSON, RUNDALL

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 1/29/2007 at 10:49:31

Essie Mae Thompson Hill, 91, of Sun City, Ariz., formerly of Linn County, died Tuesday, March 15, 1994, in Brighton Gardens nursing center, Sun City, after a lingering illness. Burial: Hill family cemetery, Wright County, Rowan. Survivors include two sons, Dr. George Hill of West Orange, N.J., and Dr. Thomas Hill of Buffalo, N.Y.; six grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.

Born June 29, 1903, in Linn County, Essie was the fourth of five children of William Henry Thompson, a creamery operator, and Sadie D. Rundall, a Methodist laywoman and weaver. After graduation from Lisbon High School, she attended Cornell College in Mount Vernon, where she graduated with a B.A. degree in 1926. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and was a member of the geology faculty at Cornell from 1926 to 1930. In 1930, she married Gerald Leslie Hill of Clarion, a Cornell classmate. In 1972, they moved to Sun City, Ariz., from Aberdeen, S.D., after Gerald retired as president of the Dakotah Bank Holding Co. He died in 1979. During the years her husband was in the banking profession, Essie was active as a teacher. She taught vocal music to private students in Lisbon and Mount Vernon, and held Iowa and South Dakota teachers certificates. She was certified as an instructor in navigation by the Civil Aeronautics Administration and was a teacher in the South Dakota System for the Visually Handicapped. After moving to Arizona, she became a member of the PEO Sisterhood and All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church. She was a member of Sun City Rockhound Club, Sun City Poetry Club and Arizona State Poetry Club. She was the author of four books, including "Prairie Daughter" (1978) and "Let Thy Handmaidens Speak" (1983). Her latest book, "Flapper Fun: Other Poems and Stories," was published in 1988. Memorials may be made to All Saints of the Desert Episcopal Church, Sun City, Ariz.; Cornell College Geology Department, Mount Vernon; or Pickerel Lake United Sunday School, c/o Mrs. Harold Webb, 1316 S. Main St., Aberdeen, S.D. 57401.

Gazette, The (Cedar Rapids-Iowa City, IA)
March 17, 1994