The Passing of Emile Hill
It is with much sadness that we must announce the passing of Emile R. Hill, Sigma 539. Emile's contributions to our Chapter are too numerous to list and cannot possibly be measured. He passed away in October of 2023 peacefully, surrounded by family. Rest in Peace Brother.
His obituary can be found by following this link, Emile Hill’s Obituary.
We would also like to share some words given to us by his family that were read at a ceremony of life held during the holidays.
Emile Hill spent much of his life in New Jersey; his childhood in Fair Lawn, where he met Jackie (Ann), and his adulthood in Wayne raising his three girls, Jean, Anne, and Carolyn. Later he resided in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In his youth, Emile was on the student council and ran track in high school, spent time on Lake Ashmere, Massachusetts, in a bungalow built by his father and uncles, enjoyed family in New Hampshire, and fished in New Jersey.
Emile attended Stevens Institute in Hoboken, New Jersey, graduating with honors in mechanical engineering and joining Beta Theta Pi fraternity, a brotherhood to which he remained loyal for the rest of his life. After Stevens, Emile began his masters work at MIT which he described as “harder than I ever wanted to work in my life” so he instead got a job and completed his master’s in electrical engineering in the evenings at Brooklyn Poly.
Emile and Jackie met in Fair Lawn through a mutual friend and were married in January of 1964. After a short time in an apartment not far from their hometown, they purchased the house in Wayne where they would raise their girls and live for the next 40 years. Emile was a dedicated husband and father, putting the interest of his family first. Whether teaching the girls morality and kindness by example, showing them a job is not worth doing unless you do it well, or demonstrating how to fix things yourself and save a buck, his patience and time was always focused on them. When the girls were little, you might have described Emile as a “bit of a goof-ball”. He was endlessly doing flopsies, and made up songs such as “It’s P.A.L.E. time” which inexplicably meant it was time for bed. He coined words like fadoozal which means to waste time doing something that isn’t what you are supposed to be doing: Emile would shout to the girls upstairs “Stop fadoozaling with your hair, it’s time to leave”. He referred to his best ankle boots as “fancy duty boots” and he only ever dressed in blue. Not only was it his favorite color, but he explained to the girls that by owning all his clothes in blue, he never had to ask himself if things would match.
Many would describe Emile as hard as nails. “But a flesh-wound” was a line made for him. He lobbed off the top of his finger in an airplane propeller. But a flesh-wound. Burned his back on hot, welded steel while trying to remove a bumper from a car. But a flesh-wound. Slammed his finger in a door. But a flesh-wound. Carry on, Emile had no time for dramatics.
While Singer Kearfott changed hands many times, Emile never did, working the same job for 35 years. He designed parts that currently reside on the moon, worked on aspects of fighter helicopters, and he holds a patent for a power buffer amplifier. He took early retirement in 1996 and spent the rest of his days enjoying his hobbies.
Emile’s involvement in the Steven’s Beta fraternity house continued as he volunteered both as treasurer and handy man, traveling regularly to Hoboken to install new windows on the house and to fix electrical and plumbing issues. When he finally relinquished the last of his treasurer duties, well into his 80’s, the girls contacted a Beta brother via email. Bob Giarratano responded with this message. “I had the pleasure of meeting Emile 18 years ago as a freshman/pledge back in 2000. He was always a presence when I lived at the house, and we would keep in touch from time to time. He had an influence on me from the moment we met; I modeled my involvement after him, serving in the corporation since my graduation in 2003. He was a cornerstone for the chapter and the house would not be what it is today without his dedication. He did all of this without ever asking for a thank you; when we tried to honor him, he directed it to other young alumni…he never longed for that recognition. There are countless alumni of the chapter that would echo my sentiments and much more. Your father is a special man who had far reaching influence… undoubtedly more then he or his family might know. There are young men today that have the honor of enjoying a chapter house because of your father.”
Emile adored opera. He bought season tickets to the Metropolitan Opera House in NY, often heading straight into the city after work with a few pals. On Saturdays, a local radio station broadcast the METs matinee and opera played loudly in the basement all afternoon. His love of old cars and the nostalgia of his youth led him to purchase a 1957 Mercury Turnpike Cruiser which spent the next 20+ years in a state of disrepair while he painstakingly restored every minute detail of the car. Yet he only ever drove it once after that. For Emile, the pleasure was in the journey, not the destination. Emile tended to an epic garden in Wayne, growing his large plot a bit bigger every year. Raspberries, lettuce, cucumbers, broccoli, beans, peas, the juiciest Jersey tomatoes…you name it. His family grew up on healthy farm-to-table food deliciously prepared by Jackie nightly. Emile loved radio-controlled airplanes and built many. He joined the local flying club and became an officer. Although his flying skills weren’t the best, Emile never got discouraged and loved everything about the hobby…building models, being outdoors, camaraderie with other flyers. After retirement, he did a deep dive into genealogy, exploring his Finnish roots, then turning to the history of other families as well. He read the New York Times cover to cover every day for 60 years and was an avid reader of books on quantum physics and magazines like popular mechanics.
You would have been lucky to live on Emile’s street. Whether it was planting Peter’s garden across the street when he became too unwell to till it himself, walking and caring for the golden retriever next-door when his owner was too busy to give Bear the time he needed, or letting the neighborhood kids swim in his pool in York, Emile had a generous spirit.
Emile and Jackie enjoyed traveling throughout the U.S. and visiting Canada, Alaska, Finland, Russia, Turkey, most of Europe, and countless other locations including their favorite Bermuda time share.
While a series of mild strokes robbed him of his motivation and limited his memory in his 80s, he remained mild-mannered and continued to read daily, watch his beloved British comedies, and stay close to Jackie in his recliner, where he was the happiest, until the end.
Emile is survived by his loving wife Ann Jacqueline Hill, his sister Marjorie Nardin of California, his daughter Jean Donahue of New Jersey, daughters Anne Mulford and Carolyn Bowman of Maryland, and his 7 adored grandchildren, Emily Donahue, Travis Mulford, Katie Ann Donahue, Holly Mulford, Fred Mulford, Preston Bowman and Harper Jane Bowman, with whom his loving memory of a life well spent, his kindness of spirit, and remembrance of his love of gum drops, jelly beans, dogs, and all things blue, will live on.