Ella Hayes Hill

It is with great sympathy we announce the passing of Ella Hill on  August 17, 2020.  Please lift the Hill family in prayer as they grieve the loss of their loved one. Funeral services will be held at Mount Pelier Presbyterian Church on August 23, 2020 at 2:00 pm. The  Reverend Clarence Page,  Officiant and Euglogist for services. Please note that funeral services will be held in the church parking lot with attendees remaining in their vehicles for the entire service.  The services will be broadcast via your car radio on station 95.5fm.  While the Hill family would love to be surrounded by your presence, they acknowledge the health risks to family, church members, friends, and particularly to those who are most vulnerable to this disease, the elderly and those with chronic health conditions. If you have any symptons related to COVID-19, please do not attend the funeral services. What the family needs most at this time are your prayers and understanding.

Services entrusted to the House of Thomas Funeral Home, 300 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Dillon, South Carolina, 29536.  Please call 843-774-0566.

Obituary

On Sunday, November 3, 1939, God blessed George and Aretha Hayes with their first-born child, a baby girl, in whom they found untold satisfaction and delightful pride.  They named her Ella Lee and their abundant love and care shaped the positive and progressive person that she would grow up to become.  She was the first of eleven children.  On Monday, August 17, God called Ella to her Heavenly Home.  
At an early age, Ella found joy and excitement in books and newspapers that her father purchased when money allowed.  Reading became an addictive prelude to her love of learning as a life-long endeavor.  Her childhood education was accomplished in rural Robeson County where much of her early learning took place in the Beauty Spot Church.  She was taught via the recitation of numerous scriptures, poems, songs and plays.  She won many oratory contests and could recite long scriptures from the bible such as her favorite, Psalm 23, and more.  Ella was well prepared for future success.  She was rooted and grounded in church life and Christian family living.  She accepted Jesus Christ as her personal Savior very early in life.  Ella was baptized and put into practice the strong Christian principles ingrained in her; always striving to become more complete and disciplined in serving Christ.  She joined Mount Pelier Presbyterian Church and, in spite of her illness and disability, she attended services whenever possible.  

Ella received a full scholarship to attend Livingstone College in Salisbury, North Carolina, where she majored in Business Education.  She pledged and became a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.  After graduating with honors, she was employed by the Livingstone College to work in the business office.  She moved to Newark, New Jersey where she was united in marriage with Clarence Hill and from this union, she was blessed with two beautiful children: Sonya and Clarence Hill, Jr. (June Bug). She went on to teach business in the local school system until she became disabled.  

Ella was a phenomenal woman.  She was beautiful inside and out and was loved by her friends and other patients at the nursing home.  She was a great spokesperson for all the patients and confidently served as their advocate.  Ella was feisty and not shy about expressing her opinions, but she was also a kind- hearted person who would look out for her friends and give them the shirt off her back.  Her generous spirit and quick wit would often bring smiles and joyous laughter to all who encountered her.  If that didn't do it, her home cooked meals certainly would.  She could take nothing and produce an amazing meal.  Her potato salad and pig's feet were known as a meal that would make everyone do the "happy dance". 

She will truly be missed, and her memory will forever linger in the hearts of her family, friends and all that loved her.  Ella was preceded in death by both her parents, her husband, four brothers: George Jr., David, James and Charles and her first cousin, Gladys Butler, who was like a sister to the family. 

Ella leaves loving memories with her son, Clarence Hill Jr.(; one daughter, Sonya Hill; three sisters: Mary Ann White (Matthew), Joyce Peay, and Priscilla Gleaves (Jerome); three brothers: Jimmy Hayes (Rosa), Horace Hayes and Ronald Hayes (Annette); Six grandchildren, two great grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews that have been greatly inspired by her legacy.  

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