Helen L. Hill

HELEN L. HILL OBITUARY FOR FUNERAL SERVICE
Helen Hill was born on March 1, 1925 in Pine Ridge, Arkansas to George Alec and Sarah Lee Willhite. The youngest of five siblings, she remembered moving with the family to Oklahoma when she was about five years old riding in a covered wagon. The Willhites settled in the Bixby area where they ran a sorghum mill. Brother, Earl, later moved to Oologah, while brother, Dick moved on to the Keystone area, sister, Rena settled near Tahlequah, and sister Lois moved closer to Broken Arrow.

Helen talked about her days at the Weir School near Bixby and recalled that one of her classmates was Pretty Boy Floyd’s son. She never met the gangster in person, however, but everyone in the area knew when he came around to visit his family. While a teenager she moved to Oologah with family and graduated from Oologah High School in 1943. After high school she was ready for the city life so she packed her bags for her big move to Tulsa. She liked to tell about how her mother, who wasn’t thrilled about her daughter moving to the city, packed one entire suitcase full of home remedies, tonics and poultices so Helen could stay healthy. When crossing the Caney River on her way to Tulsa, she promptly tossed that suitcase full of homemade concoctions into the river.

She worked office jobs in Tulsa, but also worked for a time at Douglas Aircraft helping to build military bombers. She was one of those gals often referred to as a “Rosie the Riveter.” In the early 1950s, she moved to McAlester and started work at a small oil company. She married there and had daughter, Stephanie. They moved to Broken Arrow around 1958. After a divorce, she went to work making electrical components at Midwestern Instruments which later became Telex.

Helen was welcomed in the Hill Family when she married Robert Hill on December 29, 1962. In the spring of 1964, Robert, Helen and Stephanie moved to Oologah, where Robert had grown up and Helen had lived during her teenage years. Daughter Sarah Jane was born in 1965. Robert and Helen opened R & H Grocery in Oologah in 1968. Helen introduced a tasty treat to Oologah residents when the grocery store became R & H Café, specializing in broasted chicken and ice cream. It was the only place in town where you could get a chicken dinner with a banana split for dessert. They later sold the business and it became the Mustang Café. Helen continued to work for the new owners cooking the chicken she had become such an expert at.

When the Mustang closed, she went to work for Vandagriffs at their variety store and then later in their convenience store. She started cooking broasted chicken again and eventually added other deli items. When the current owners, the Rogers’, bought the business Helen stayed on and continued cooking.

Until her tragic death last Friday at age 81, Helen was working five days a week and enjoyed every minute of it. Always a people-person, she enjoyed the opportunity to see people, visit with those who stopped in, and to stay connected to her community.

In support of her community, Helen stepped forward in the late 1970s to contribute her time as a public servant. She served on the Town Board for three years and then as mayor of Oologah from 1980 to 1985. One of greatest achievements for the town during her tenure as mayor was the installation of the city sewer system.

Helen and Robert were very active with Zion Hill Freewill Baptist Church for many years. They and others later moved on to found Shelter Freewill Baptist Church in Collinsville. She loved the church and her church family and loved to listen to and sing gospel music. According to Ruby Garrison, her friend of 64 years who was like a sister to her, Helen was always in the choir at church services. She was also a Sunday School teacher and a women’s auxiliary officer.

Helen loved to make people laugh and was quite the entertainer. Just ask those folks who got to meet, Ludie Spinks from Bugtussle, Oklahoma, a costumed-character she created who told jokes and funny stories at various church-related gatherings.

A lot of people will miss Helen, but her family will especially feel the loss. She is survived by husband Robert; daughter Stephanie LaFevers and son-in-law Joe Klementovicz, daughter Sarah Hill; granddaughter Jade Hill Weber; and her very special little great-grandson Zackery Weber.

Also, her sister-in law and brother-in-law Mandy Sue and Ed Jenkins; brother-in-law and sister-in-law Billy and Nancy Hill; brother-in-law Jimmy Hill; 18 nephews, six nieces, and numerous great-nephews and nieces.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her father-in-law and mother in-law Finis and Ona Hill; sister Rena and husband Gordon Davis; sister Lois and husband Harry Christian; brother Earl Willhite and wife Goldie; brother Dick Willhite and wife Leota; and brother-in-law and sister-in-law Donald and Marcella Hill.

Because she touched so many lives in so many different ways, at this time, I’d like to invite anyone who has a special memory of Helen or a comment about her to stand up and share it with us today.

Funeral Services will be Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Oologah with intermnet following at Wann Cemetery.