John Gibson Hill, of Waterville, NY died Thursday, April 9, 2015, after a brief illness.
He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ellen, a daughter, Lorene, of Benzonia, Michigan, a son, Christopher, of Waterville, and seven grandchildren.
Mr. Hill was born in New York City in 1932, the son of John Gibson Hill Sr. and Barbara Hatfield Hill. He was educated at the Peddie School in New Jersey. After high school, he served in the Army, spending most of his enlistment in the west, where he trained with the Tenth Mountain Division at Camp Hale in Colorado. As a part of his duty, he worked on battlefield communication systems, which led him to observe a number of above-ground atomic tests in Nevada.
After serving in the Army, Mr. Hill attended the University of Virginia, where he earned a bachelors degree in geology. He went on to take a masters degree in the same field at NYU. He met his future wife, Ellen Scheiber, on a blind date in New York, and the two were married in 1957.
Mr. Hill had an extraordinary career as a geologist, in work that he loved and that took him to remote locations across the Western US. During his career he was employed by the US Geological Survey, the Anaconda Corporation, Cities Service Minerals, Bendix, and First Mississippi Corporation, where he was Chief Geologist. Primarily an expert in porphyry copper deposits, he helped to pioneer stream sampling techniques. For most of his adult life he lived in Utah, Wyoming and Colorado, before retiring to South Carolina.
He loved jazz music, travel, and flying kites on the beach.
A devoted husband and father, he had recently moved to Waterville to be near family. He was greatly loved and will be greatly missed.
A Memorial Mass will be celebrated at 1PM Friday, May 1, 2015 from St. Bernard’s Church, 199 Stafford Ave., Waterville.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Burgess & Tedesco Funeral Home, 210 E. Main St., Waterville.
Contributions in his memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, 411 West Kirkpatrick St., Syracuse, NY 13204-1305