Profile: Bill Hill

Let me let this sink in for a moment: I've known Bill Hill for twenty-five years now. Twenty-five. That hardly seems possible. Where do I begin with this profile?

Bill has been around me for a long time and during this period has seemingly reinvented himself over and over again. He has always been a good guy, but over the years he has become someone that I admire beyond most people.

First off, my dad, Jerry is a good person who I look up to. I'll get to his profile later, but I say this because I think it is important to point out that while my parents were divorced and I only saw my dad every other weekend growing up, he did everything he could to raise me in our limited time together. That said, Bill stepped in, particularing in my later years (high school and beyond) and taught me how to be a man. An incredible amount of credit should go to him for that. While he faced a great deal of his own issues, Bill has always presented to me a figure who could be emulated. He has always been someone who treated other people the way they deserved to be treated, and that is with respect until they prove themself otherwise.

Bill has always been fairly quiet, usually taking a secondary role to my mom, but he does so with purpose. When he does speak he does so with a wisdom born from a difficult life with a world of experience. I treasure his conversations and his words to me have always held a tremendous value.

I met Bill when I was 14 years old, just moving back to Jackson from Texas. I had no idea who the guy my mom was with was, but he was easy to like from the get go. He was full of adventurous stories and I fed off of what he had to say. We was a man that seemed to have been born from the earth and introduced me to experiences that I doubt I would have had an opportunity to enjoy. I remember going out mushroom hunting on cool spring mornings and the taste of them later in the day when he would fry them up. I remember how cool and calm he remained when I cut my throat open on a barbed wire fence while riding a bicycle. He told me later on that he was very worried that I had cut my juglar vein, but even through that he displayed a calmness that serves as an example to me even today. I remember him coming to pick me at school and him and my mom telling me that my dog Jackson had been killed by a car. I know that it hurt him to tell me, that it hurt him to take care of Jackson's remains before I got home, but he has always been a stoic figure that would offer any support he ever could and never let emotion get the best of him. That is he never would except once...

I have a lot of things to be proud of in my life. I've done well for myself. I've got a great family, beautiful children. But the day I was able to bring Tammy and Bill together after such a long time stands out as one of the best things I've ever been able to do for another person.

I was in Junior Acheivement while a freshman at Western H.S. Each week I would go down to the JA building on Mechanic St. in downtown Jackson for weekly meetings. Bill and Mom would always take me down there and typically both would come to pick me up. In J.A. you sell stock to get seed money for a company that each group created. With this money you would buy materials, build a product and sell it with the profits getting returned to the stock holders at the end of the year.

My first year I had 5 stock certificates to sell and sold one of them to Bill. It just so happens that Bill's daughter, Tammy was one of the officers in our company and saw Bill's name on the stock. She hadn't seen her dad in Lord knows how long, eight years maybe? Anyway, she asked me if I saw Bill very often and I told her that he was picking me up that night. I told Tammy that I would happily introduce her to him later that night.

When our meeting was over Tammy and I went outside and I told Bill I wanted to introduce him to someone. He got out of the car and I simply told him, "Bill, this is your daughter Tammy." I remember how he immediately hugged her and just held on to her crying. It was the first time I saw such an incredible amount of emotion from him. It also showed me that a father's love for his child never wanes, that regardless of distance, or time, it is always there. I remember feeling so jubilant that day. Even today I remember that night and rejoice in the fact that I was in the right place at the right time. I can't say that I learned this just from him, as my mom has had a huge say in how I treat my kids, but I will say that he has provided reason for me to tell my kids I love them everyday, to show them affection that they will grow with and take with them into adulthood.

Bill has made plenty of mistakes through his life, but with those mistakes have come lessons that I have learned. I know how addiction can take you over and how much fight it takes to overcome it. I have learned that when things get bad, you never, ever give up. Bill has had terrible accidents which he has come back from. He has faced financial issues that would buckle the willpower of other men. He has been afflicted with cancer, and even when he stood on death's door he fought it and came back from it. I have no doubt that Bill Hill is by far the strongest man I have ever had the pleasure to have known.

While I have learned a lot from him, there is one thing about Bill that I value more than anything. I value the companionship is has brought my mom. My mom is a very strong person, I think she has proved that when I was just a little kid. Yet my mom is a person that needs, no, deserves a compliment to her. Bill is that compliment. I learned that in Bill my mom has found a perfect match. God paired my mom with Bill there is no doubt in my mind. The diversity that each of them has had to face is testament to this fact, yet through all the turmoil, all the difficulty both have endured, they have found one another and found a love that serves as an example to all couples. They don't have a story like Romeo and Juliet, yet their love is a epic as any found in literature. They are a matched pair that fit perfectly together and everytime I see them together it brings a happiness to me that I can't explain. I've seen times in my mom's life when she has been steeped in misery and the gift of companionship that Bill has given to her means so much to me.

I said in an earlier post that Brian, my brother, is my best friend, yet that friendship is born from growing up together. My friendship with Bill is so different, yet so much stronger than even that between my brother and I. Bill has done more than just offered his friendship, he took upon him a duty to help my mother raise me to be the man I am today. How could I ever think to repay him for this?

I'll finish by saying that when Bill was sick with pneumonia, not long after his cancer surgery we came up from Indiana for a summer get together. Bill was in pretty bad shape. He didn't even know that we were there, let alone know who we were. I don't think I have ever told him, or my mom this, but I went in the house while Bill was sitting in his chair. I wasn't sure if he was asleep or not, but I sat down to talk to him. I remember telling him that he needed to get better, that he needed to eat something, to stop losing weight. I remember how horrible I felt, thinking that I was talking to my friend for the last time. I felt so helpless, seeing him so sick. I remember crying as I held his hand, begging him to get better, to heal so he could be there for me. It was so selfish of me to think of myself like that. I knew that in that moment my love for Bill was as strong as that which any child could have for his father. Needless to say I thank God for what he has done, for bringing Bill back when he had been so far gone.

Bill, all I am going to say in closing is that I appreciate you beyond what even these words can convey. Thank you for everything you have done for me, you have shown me, and you have taught me. I would not have become the man I have become had it not been for you. You forever have my love and respect.