Linda Jeanette (Lemke) Hill, 97, of Birnamwood, passed away on Saturday morning, Jan. 10, with her daughter by her side.
Linda was the youngest daughter of 14 children born to Wilhelm Edward and Emilia (Strohschein) Lemke in the town of Dupont, Waupaca County, on Dec. 6, 1917. In 1925, the family moved to a log cabin and farm in rural Mattoon. She was confirmed in St. John’s Lutheran Church, Mattoon, in 1931, and walked to a one-room schoolhouse nearby and on the 3-mile railroad track trail to the high school with her brothers. After graduating from Mattoon High School in 1936, Linda lived and worked in several professional positions in Milwaukee along with three of her sisters.
She met her spouse of 70 years, Frank A. Hill, through her brother Theodore, while both were training in the U.S. Army Air Corps as fighter pilots. Frank and Linda were united in marriage at Selfridge Field, Michigan, on Feb. 22, 1941, before he was assigned overseas during World War II.
During her husband’s 30-year career in the U.S. Air Force, she and the three children resettled in many locations throughout Europe and the United States. She was a hostess to many prominent military officers and U.S. Congressmen as well as an active member and officer in Officer Wives’ Clubs. In addition, she was an avid snow and water skier, swimmer and golfer. She also cultivated many fine gardens, sewed, crocheted and knit.
In 1969, the couple returned to their home in Pompton Plains, New Jersey, where she worked for her husband’s Hillson’s Realty office. She enjoyed much time with her growing grandchildren when they retired from business. In 2006, she and her husband relocated due to health reasons to Bohlman Manor in Birnamwood, near her daughter, and Linda’s childhood home.
Linda is survived by her three children, Janet (Tim) Schmidt, Birnamwood, Robert (Joan) Hill, Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Thomas (Barbara) Hill, Pompton Plains, New Jersey; brother-in-law, John (Claire) Hill, Palm Harbor, Florida; eight grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
Linda was preceded in death by her husband, retired USAF Col. Frank A. Hill; and all of her siblings, Emma (Louis) Marquart, Edward (Irene, Viola, Lydia), Walter (Hazel, Helen), Louis (Lucille), Leona (Clayton) Sutton, Anna (August) Winter, Herbert, Albert, Dorothea, Esther (Henry) Hafferman, Lydia Keller (Edwin Blazewicz,Paul Keller), Theodore (Maybelle) and Leonard.
Funeral services will be through Scanlan Funeral Home, Pompton Plains, New Jersey, with viewing from 4-8 p.m. Jan. 16 and service and interment beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 17. Interment will be at the First Reformed Church in Pompton Plains.
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