John Alonzo “Papo” Hill, of Lincoln, passed away on June 3, 2017. John was born in Midway, Okla., on June 25, 1925, and was the eighth child of ten to Herbert and Lily Day (Hamon) Hill. John grew up on a farm in Kingfisher, Okla., and graduated from Kingfisher High School in 1943. John enlisted as an Army paratrooper as part of the 13th Airborne Division on September 8, 1943, and was honorably discharged as a corporal on February 1, 1946, after serving in WWII. John obtained a BS in Agriculture, Education and Agronomy from Oklahoma State in 1950 and moved to Carroll as part of the first G.I. Farm Class where he taught veterans on-the-job agriculture.
He married Ruth Backstrom of Wayne on December 21, 1950, and moved to Randolph in 1952. While living in Randolph they had two children, Tyson (1953) and Permelia (1956). John began what would be a 50 year career in agriculture and mechanics instruction. He taught shop and vo-ag at Randolph HS for 13 years and relocated to Lincoln in 1965 where he became an instructor for 35 years at Manpower Adult Education, which later became Southeast Community College. He earned an MS from UNL in 1968. In 1977 he bought a 40 acre farm outside of Roca where he became a part time farmer while teaching at Southeast Community College and UNL.
He retired in 1990 and continued to educate on a part time basis. John was involved in numerous military clubs and associations including the DAV, American Legion, and VFW and was involved in honor and color guards. John had many hobbies including reading, gardening, dancing, building and working with his hands, working with his farm animals, studying military history and spending time with his family. He had an incredible work ethic and pioneer spirit which he passed along to his children and grandchildren. John married his second wife, Hellen Heller, on May 11, 1996, and extended his family with Helen’s children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
John is survived by his wife of 21 years Helen (Heller) Hill; one daughter Permelia (Hill) Young; four grandchildren, Jason (Jenny) Hill of Roca; Tashia (Ray) Oswald of Milwaukee, Wis.; Cortney Young of Lincoln; Zachary Young of Burnsville, Minn.; one great-granddaughter, Sophie Hill; and a daughter-in-law, Jo (Bracha) Hill. In addition to his parents and nine siblings, John is preceded in death by his previous wife Ruth (Backstrom) Hill and son Tyson Hill.
A memorial service for John will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday, June 7,at Roper & Sons Funeral Home, 4300 ‘O’ St. No visitation.
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