Lyman Marion Hill Obituary (1926 - 2012)

From his daughters Jenelle, Darcy & Renee: Looking out I see many family and friends - some of whom have traveled long distances to be here. It is such a gift to be surrounded by you and your love for our dad. Thank you for coming and showing that dad holds a special place in your hearts. You all have your own personal experiences with Dad, and in the end, you will remember him in your own way. Later in the service you will have the opportunity to share your thoughts and memories of Dad with us. We hope to give you a glimpse of who dad was to us. It is impossible to speak of Dad without also including our Mom. They were a package deal. We admired dad for so many reasons. First and foremost, for his love and commitment to our mom. Not just to their marriage.....he was committed to making her happy. She was the love of his life and he adored her and romanced her everyday. From holding her hand while they walked or watched TV, to always getting her door or chair, catching her eye across the room and winking at her, or grabbing her while she made to dinner to dance in the kitchen. Even when he was not feeling well, he was looking out for her and was concerned about her - blowing her a kiss and mouthing "I love you" while in the ER getting checked out after a fall. A few weeks ago when talking to my dad he stopped what he was saying to ask me if I had seen mom's leg. He had noticed a bruise on her leg and wanted me to make sure she was ok. His concern was always for mom and her well being. As much as Dad loved mom, she loved him right back just as much. They were married for 54 years - very happily married. I can honestly say that I never heard them fight or raise their voices to each other. Mom selflessly took care of Dad at home after he got sick. Every waking moment her thoughts were of him. She took amazing care of him and we want her to know how much we appreciate knowing that dad was always in her loving and capable care. The most important thing to Dad was his family and we never doubted that. He always freely gave us his time, ears, and heart, so we would always feel heard and loved. Dad had a quiet wisdom. One of his finest qualities was his ability to listen to and absorb what was said, and offer a point of view based on that wisdom. He never made you feel your problems or worries were small or insignificant. I know he did that for a lot of you too. Dad showed his love for us kids in so many ways. We would often be at school and find encouraging notes or pictures he had stuck in our books or binders. Dad always tucked us in at night no matter how late he got home. We each have our favorite song he would sing to us. You always knew where you stood with Dad. He regularly told us he loved us and how proud he was to be our father. Dad was very straightforward and demanded little from others. He was by far the kindest, most hard working person I have ever known. He had a quiet strength and was always willing to help others. He was generous with his time and love. Dad was very humble and I'm sure did things for other people that we never even knew about. Mom and dad taught us how to think for ourselves - to keep an open mind, and to listen to other's perspectives. He willingly gave advice when asked. Like kids do, we didn't always take his advice. When this happened and things didn't work out, there was never an "I told you so", just more help and support. He felt our pain and disappointments and celebrated our successes. He made us better people. He made everyone better. Dad's sense of fun was coupled with extraordinary calm and patience. As kids we often found this slightly annoying. For instance when we would argue with each other over really important things like whose turn it was for the dishes or who needed to get the laundry out of the dryer, Dad would start singing Love At Home, or Let Us Oft Speak Kind Words To Each Other. We would get so annoyed by that. We really have no idea how he kept his cool so much. When we had kids of our own, we understood Dad in a whole new way and gained a better appreciation for his approach to our conflicts as kids. Dad instilled in us a value system that defined who he was - and that was a man who kept his word and honored his commitments. He was a man of integrity and that never wavered - ever. In the summer of 1980, we took a family road trip to the Grand Canyon. Before we left, my folks had told some friends that we would deliver a care package to their son, David, who was serving a mission in Arizona. The area he served in was about a 2 hour drive from where we were camping. Dad drove us there in crazy hot weather, in our station wagon, without air conditioning, and only AM radio, with us kids moaning and complaining the entire time. We got there only to discover that he had been transferred 1000 miles in the exact opposite direction. Ok, maybe not a thousand but to us it sure seemed like it. Seriously though, it was probably another 2-3 hours away. You can imagine how happy we were when Dad said we were going to find David and deliver that package. Really??? We can't just mail it?? Trust me when I say that we did NOT make that an enjoyable ride for them. I'm sure we made them miserable but my Dad didn't waver. He stayed calm and drove. For my parents 50th anniversary we made them a scrapbook. David sent something for the book. Here is a quote from what he sent. " It was the summer of 1980. I was serving my mission amongst the Navajo Indians. I lived out in the middle of the desert next to the trading post. One hot, dusty day, I looked up and there was Lyman and Jenny driving up with their family in their station wagon. I have no idea how they found me. They probably still wonder to this day. They brought me a relief package. I will never forget the looks on their faces as they beamed with delight at finding me, a lonely missionary, out in the desert of life." Dad also gave him a case of root beer. We kids were appalled! An entire case?? As you can guess, we weren't too thrilled about that either. As adults looking back we can laugh about that memory and can really appreciate that as just one of the many examples of dad keeping his word - even when it wasn't easy for him. Dad had a strong testimony of the church. During his life he held many different positions in the church. The one that stands out the most, and I think was his favorite, was when he was Bishop of our ward in San Lorenzo. He was ordained as Bishop in May, 1965, by Spencer W. Kimball. When I was born, Dad was already a Bishop so I didn't know any different. I just thought it was neat that during church I could wait for his signal to come sit on his lap. It made me feel so important getting to sit up on the stand with him. He always had butter rum life savers in his pocket. Mom had cherry ones in her purse. Being Bishop kept Dad pretty busy. He took his calling as father of the ward very seriously and made time for anyone who needed him. I know he touched the lives of many people while he served as Bishop. Dad was also on the High Council for many years. He enjoyed going to speak at the different wards. He always prepared his talks well in advance, bouncing ideas off Mom and researching, reading, and searching the scriptures so he could convey a message to everyone. Dad told stories in a way that made people want to listen. Dad was a genuinely happy person with a wonderful sense of humor, but never at anyone's expense. Anyone who knew Dad knew that. Here are some things that you might not know about Dad: He served in the Navy during WWII for two years - leaving for bootcamp 4 days after he graduated from high school in Toole, Utah. Dad was an avid Utah Utes fan and got his Bachelor's Degree from the University of Utah and a Masters Degree from San Francisco State University in Speech Pathology. He worked for the San Leandro School District as a speech pathologist for 37 years. Dad could draw and paint really well. He enjoyed drawing caricatures and cartoons - often drawing pictures on our lunch bags and making cards for us on our birthdays and other special occasions. He became known for his cards and often got requests to make them for other people. He was friends with Morrie Turner, the creator of the Wee Pals comic strip and they often exchanged cartoons with each other. Dad painted advertisements in the windows of local businesses in San Lorenzo. He loved to take pictures of the family, the beach, Yosemite, and any lake or stream. He even built a dark room in our old house, where he developed his own pictures. Dad was curious about everything and loved to learn. He could speak a little bit of 8 different languages and would challenge us to learn words and phrases too. Dad loved the outdoors - especially camping and going to the beach. We went on many camping trips and hikes together as a family and he and my mom taught us how to catch the waves and body surf. Dad learned how to sail and would take a boat out on the Bay whenever he could. Did you know that Dad knew how to play the ukulele? That's one of the reasons we had the ukulele music today. Thank you for doing that.(look at the person who did that). Dad knew how to get anywhere in San Francisco without getting lost and we had a lot of fun adventures there. One of our favorite things to do there was go down Lombard Street, or the Crooked Road as we called it. Once when we were going down it, we saw an episode of Lassie being filmed. That was really exciting for us until we learned that Lassie was a boy and there was a car full of other Lassies too. One of Dad's favorite jobs was when he worked in Yellowstone National Park. He was also a high school English teacher for three years before going back to school for his masters degree. Dad was allergic to dogs and really didn't like them much, but he let us have them anyway. He drew the line at cats though. Dad was fun and would often make bets with us. One of our favorites was when he would say he would split the money in his wallet with us if we could do something like say Merry Christmas in four different languages, or finish a puzzle in a certain amount of time. We don't know if he knew how much money was in there before he challenged us, but one time there was 40 bucks! Dad paid attention to detail and remembered things about our lives and our friend's lives too. Dad loved ice cream and often took us out to Duffy's or Clancy's in San Leandro. Along with ice cream, dad enjoyed See's candy. He somehow kept his cool when he would go to get a piece and discover that someone had taken a bite out of each piece. You could never tell which piece was what without taking a bite to see what was inside!! See's candy has been significant in our family ever since Dad put mom's engagement ring in a bag of candy the night he proposed. It is difficult to imagine dad not being around, and I'm not sure how we will cope without his reassuring presence. Even writing this was hard because it was the kind of thing we would've gotten his input and opinion on. I know Dad would not want us to focus on the sadness of his death. He would want us to appreciate each other, and the happiness and blessings we have in our lives. Dad, it's now our turn to publicly express our love for you. Although we each told you many times just how much you meant to us, we want to one last time, in front of all your friends and family, say that we love you. God uses good people to do great things. This was certainly the case with Dad.