Wendell Hill

Wendell was born in Belle Fourche, South Dakota in the spring of 1932, two days after the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped, to Genevieve and Leo Hill. He lived and grew up, and moved with his mother and grandparents in Belle Fourche, Whitewood, Saint Onge, Deadwood, Rapid City, and Four-Mile, South Dakota, and Brownwood, Texas, where he attended school, worked, and had family and many friends. He graduated in 1948 in Sturgis, SD. In 1953 he enlisted in the Navy and was soon after shipped off to the Pacific during the Korean Conflict, aboard the USS Whitehurst as an EN3. This Destroyer Escort provided power to various islands and did various search and rescue missions during the war. After his honorable discharge in 1956 he returned to Newcastle, WY where his parents had a grocery store. Not long after they moved to Casper, WY and eventually Edgerton, WY, where his parents owned and operated Leo's Market grocery store. Wendell met his wife Patricia during one of her breaks from nursing school, through the introductions of Dixie Simmons (Patty's sister), who co-owned a liquor store in Edgerton, WY with her husband Mickey. Wendell and Patty began a long distance relationship while she finished nursing school in Rochester, MN. Wendell went to work for Pan American Pipeline in the gas plant near Midwest, WY. In one of his letters he proposed and she accepted. In the spring of 1961, after her graduation, the two were married at First United Methodist Church in Casper, and then made their home in Edgerton, WY. In the next five years they had four daughters. Wendell took an early retirement package when PanAm closed their operations so that they could remain in the community to raise their family. He purchased a motel and trailer park, Hill's Trailside Motel, and started a home service business, Hill's Home Service. These endeavors kept the couple very busy. Patty mostly took care of the maintenance and operations of the motel and trailer park, and Wendell handled the community's needs for plumbing, contracting, and myriad handyman services, as well as doing several major renovations and remodels to the home and motel, landscaping the grounds, and adding a beauty shop and car wash to the property, and a mechanic shop to his service business. In addition the couple also trained and served on the volunteer ambulance. Wendell also served as a volunteer fireman for the community. In the 1980's he went to work in the gas plant at the Naval Petroleum Reserve near Midwest, WY. During the next several years he also worked at Smith RV and Sears in the Repair shop. He was a very gifted man with the mechanics of a variety of things, and some folks nicknamed him "Tinker" as he enjoyed tinkering with broken things to get them running again. He finally retired in the 1990's when his eyesight began to fail him. Wendell was well liked in the community, playful in his youth, and very much a family man. He enjoyed serving people. He started up a publication called The Trade Winds to bring people together in his community. He enjoyed entertaining, and was extremely hospitable. He was an interesting cook and liked to invent drink concoctions for guests at holidays. He also liked to create a festive atmosphere for our town during Christmas by setting up a speaker to broadcast Christmas music into the air. He drew and decorated and played harmonica (not often enough). He enjoyed working with his hands and was a skillful carpenter who helped to erect his parent's log home in Edgerton as well as his own first home, and did numerous remodels to the places he lived in, as well as landscaping. He loved taking the family on motorcycle rides on his Cushman scooter on a nice summer day. He also took his family on a few very memorable vacations through much of the western united states, from the pueblos in Colorado to the Grand Canyon, the Golden Gate Bridge to the Red Wood Forests, Crater Lake, the Oregon Caverns, Walla Walla, Washington, Yellowstone and the Tetons to name a few. He enjoyed car racing, horse racing, a good cup of coffee, sharing good conversation, and listening to Paul Harvey at noon on the radio. His childhood hero was Will Rogers. He is survived by his wife Patricia Hill of Casper, a daughter Colleen (and Matthew) Hoffman of Uvalde, TX, a daughter Lindee (and Michael) Szewczyk of Casper, a daughter Geri (and Arlo) Burress of Warroad, MN, twelve grandchildren: Danielle (and James) Siri of Seattle, WA, Gracee (and Matt) Olson of Uvalde, TX, CJ (and Doris) Boring of Somerset, OH, Crystal (and Ben) Tucker of Pickerington, OH, Court (and Rachele) Boring of Casper, Cody Boring of Casper, Cass (and Jason) Harden of Casper, Camille (and Lee) Sterner of Casper, Chris and Allee Szewczyk of Casper, and Eric and Brandon Hill of Fargo, ND; and nine great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents, Leo and Genevieve Hill, a half-brother Kenneth and half-sister Linda, and a daughter Lisa Boring. A memorial service has been set for Friday, July 19th at Nancy English Park, south side, officiated by Pastor Steve Adams of Grace Bible Baptist Church. Special thanks to the special care unit staff at Life Care Center of Casper who provided tenderhearted care to Wendell in his last days and whose service was greatly appreciated by the family.

Service

Friday, July 19, 2013 10:30am