Betty E. (Carpenter) HILL

CARPENTER, HILL, TUDOR, SNYDERS, COOK

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/19/2016 at 18:19:12

November 24, 1925 --- February 9, 2016

Betty E. (Carpenter) Hill of Urbana, Illinois passed away peacefully at home on February 9, 2016. Funeral services will be held at 1:00 P.M. on Thursday, February 18, 2016 at First Presbyterian Church, 602 W. Green St., Urbana. A private graveside service will take place after the funeral. A reception will be held at 2:30 P.M. at the church where the Hill family will welcome visitors following the private graveside service.

Betty was born November 24, 1925, in Woolstock, Iowa, the daughter of Lila Fern (Tudor) and Joseph Howard Carpenter. Betty attended Waldorf College, Forest City, Iowa from 1944 – 1945, and toured with the Waldorf Choir for two years. Betty was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at Waldorf and Sigma Kappa sorority at Iowa State College. Following graduation, she enjoyed teaching experiences in Huxley, Alexander, and Ft. Dodge, Iowa while earning funds to finance completion of her BS degree in Applied Art at Iowa State College. Following graduation from ISC, she was employed as interior designer for Younkers of Iowa, in Des Moines.

In 1951 she married Lowell Hill and given Lowell’s impending call from the draft board in 1952, Betty returned to Younkers decorating department as interior decorator in Iowa City. She was later promoted to head of the drapery department in Mason City, Iowa. In 1953 she resigned and joined her husband in Ft. Sill, Okla. where she taught in the Lawton school system until Lowell completed his time in the Army. They returned to Iowa, where their two children Brent and Rebecca were born. In 1960 she accompanied Lowell and their family to Michigan State University and from there to the University of Illinois, Urbana, where she resided until her death.

Betty was a devoted wife and mother, supporting children and grandchildren with her interest and encouragement. She interrupted a career as an interior decorator to raise a family and support Lowell’s career and research as a professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois. Yet she still found time to be a leader and active member in several organizations, including President of University Women’s Club, President of Newcomers Club, President of Yankee Ridge PTA, a member of KD Chapter of PEO and active in many church and community activities. She also taught remedial reading at the Yankee Ridge School. She served as host family to a number of international students enrolled in the University of Illinois, and developed many friends and an abiding interest in international work.

Betty is survived by her two children, Rebecca Snyders and her husband Russ of Seattle, Brent Hill and his wife Donna of Golden Colo. and by grandchildren Meredith Snyders and Ryan Snyders. She was preceded in death by her parents and her sister, Bonnie Cook. Betty loved traveling and absorbed the cultures of more than 50 countries while assisting her husband in his international research. She captured her love of travels and other cultures in an 816-page book. Her daily journals and photographs documented the adventures and activities that could never be part of Lowell’s research publications. The contacts she made on these travels created memories and friends that lasted a lifetime. She continued exchanging letters with many of these friends until her death.

Memorials may be directed to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Champaign Humane Society, or to the First Presbyterian Church of Urbana Betty Hill Memorial Fund.

Renner-Wikoff Chapel -- Urbana, Illinois
http://www.renner-wikoffchapel.com/fh/obituaries/obituary.cfm?o_id=3598411&fh_id=10562