James Hills

James Lawrence Hills, 86, died at home Monday after having lived a long and rewarding life filled with the love and admiration of a multitude of family, friends and colleagues. Born January 14, 1928, in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of the late William G. and Ava (Shawhan) Hills. Hills was raised in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He became an Eagle Scout on December 8, 1941. He attended Devitt Preparatory School in Washington, D.C. from where he graduated in 1946. He was a 1950 graduate of the University of Maryland. Hills, as a young man, worked nearly a decade at Camp Winape for Boys in East Charleston, Vermont. While working at Camp Winape, he met his future wife, Lorraine Barbara Ayers, who was working at the nearby Camp Elizabeth Inn on Lake Memphremagog in Newport, Vermont on the Canadian border. They married on July 19, 1958 in Essex Junction, Vermont. Lorraine preceded him in death in 1996. While a student at the University of Maryland, Hills joined Sigma Pi Fraternity in 1948, which launched his 66 year relationship with the Fraternity, both on an international level and locally with Alpha Chapter at Vincennes University. He was a Founding Father of the Alpha-Chi Chapter of Sigma Pi at the University of Maryland and served as the Chapter Sage (President). From 1954 to 1971, Hills held national positions as field representative, executive assistant and executive secretary with the Fraternity. As executive secretary, in 1963, he supervised the move of the Sigma Pi National Headquarters from New Jersey to Vincennes where the Fraternity was founded in 1897 and where the headquarters remained until 2003. Hills also played a role, in 1965, in re-establishing the Fraternity's mother chapter, Alpha, at VU after a 55 year hiatus, and then was part of a group that, in the late 1980's, was instrumental in the construction of the current chapter house at St. Clair and Second Streets, as well as raising the funds and building, to commemorate the centennial of the Fraternity's founding, the Sigma Pi Clock Tower across the street from the chapter house. The alley behind the chapter house is named in Hills' honor. In 1992, Hills was given the title of Honorary Grand Sage of Sigma Pi International, an honor bestowed only upon six men in the Fraternity's 117 year history. He received the Fraternity's Founders' Award in 2000, which is the Fraternity's highest and most prestigious form of recognition. More recently, he served on the boards of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation and the Sigma Pi Fund. Hills also founded the Alpha Alumni Association. At the time of his death, he was the President of the Alpha of Sigma Pi House Corporation, a position he held for 16 years. Hills also worked as a sales representative for Burr Patterson & Auld and as a regional sales representative for Summit National Life Insurance Company. He was a member of Old Cathedral Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus, the Elks, and Vincennes Kiwanis. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean Conflict. Hills was a longtime member of the National Association of Life Underwriters and its local chapter, Wabash Valley Life Underwriters Association. He is survived by daughters, Margaret O'Donnell of Frankfort, Kentucky and Carolyn (Bryan) Willford of Columbus, Ohio; one son, Michael (Beth) Hills of Indianapolis; two brothers, David A. Hills of Middlebury, Vermont and William T. Hills of Janesville, Wisconsin; and eight grandchildren, Alexander J. Hills, Grace M. Hills, Annie J. Hills, Liam X. O'Donnell, Ava S. Willford, Eric R. Willford, Merritt Willford Nemcek and Benjamin Willford. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday February 15, 2014 at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Visitation will precede the mass from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Burial will be in the Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery where his parents and wife are buried. A scholarship through Sigma Pi in Hills' name will be established. In lieu of flowers, donations to fund the scholarship may be made payable to Sigma Pi, P.O. Box 1869, Vincennes, IN 47591.