June 2, 1918 – January 15, 2013

Jack Hill peaceably passed away on Tuesday, January 15, 2013, surrounded by his wife and family, at St. Charles Medical Center. A member of the ‘Greatest Generation’, Jack was born in Phoenix, OR, where he was a star athlete at Medford High School. He attended college prior to enlisting in the Oregon Army National Guard in the fall of 1940. After being selected for pilot training, he was awarded his pilot wings and commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) in December of 1941, just as the US entered into WWII. As the war progressed, he was a B-17 Instructor Pilot and the Operations Officer at Las Vegas Army Airfield in NV, and that was where he met his wife, Madelon, where she was also stationed as a Woman’s Airforce Service Pilot (WASP). They were married on September 15, 1944, just before he left for combat duty in the Pacific Theater as a B-29 aircraft commander bomber pilot. They have been married for nearly 69 years. Following his return from the war, he graduated from Oregon State University with a degree in Forestry and Business Administration. They settled in Tigard, where they started their family ,and he worked in Portland in the lumber industry. Having enjoyed living part time in the Bend/Sunriver area since 1976, they relocated permanently to Bend in May of 2004, living in Stone Lodge. In early 2007, they moved in with their youngest daughter, Nancy.

Jack and Madelon had four children and together in-grained in them their core values of responsibility, respect, hard work and service. Jack’s oldest son, Marty, is a US Air Force Academy graduate and F-15 fighter pilot and is now a commercial airline pilot; his second son, Tom, graduated from the US Naval Academy and was a F-14 fighter pilot and now runs his own defense contracting company; his oldest daughter, Margaret (Betsy), married an Air Force Academy graduate and fighter pilot and she is currently a CMA at Bend Memorial Clinic in Bend, OR; and his youngest daughter, Nancy, has been a science teacher at Mountain View High School in Bend for 29 years. His love and guidance ensured the success of all his children as they followed in his footsteps. In addition to his wife and four children, five grandchildren and six great grandchildren survive him. Throughout his life he enjoyed golf, fishing in all of Oregon’s lakes and rivers, and attending his children’s sporting events. He will be greatly missed by all of his family but their sorrow is buoyed by remembering him as a loving and faithful husband and father, someone always full of good humor, with unwavering support for his family.

At present, no service is scheduled, and it is requested donations be forwarded to the Oregon Veterans’ Home. Please sign our online guestbook at www.niswonger-reynolds.com