Lyle Earl Hill
Lyle Earl Hill age 84, passed away Monday August 19, 2013.
Lyle was born on March 28,1929 to William and Hazel (Rush) Hill on the family ranch at Moorcroft Wyoming.
He was proceeded in death by his parents and younger brother Donald.
Lyle is survived by his wife Clara; Brother, Bob Hill (Patty) Springfield, Or,; Sister Darlene Wash (Warren) Broadus, Mt. Children: Donna of Hot Springs, and Lyle Jr (Ruthie) of Helena, MT, Grandsons: Daniel, Salinas Ca; James, Bozeman, MT; Wesley, Denver Co; John, New Port Richey, Fl; Billy Phillips (Corinna) Superior, MT; Zeth Scott of Helena, MT. Three Great Grandchildren: Kaylee Hill, New Port Richey, Fl; Cassandra and Brayden Phillips of Superior, Mt.
Lyle joined the Air Force in 1948. He took his basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. He was stationed at Mather Field, at Sacramento, Ca., where he met the love of his life Clara High on January 1, 1950 and they were married at Virginia City, NV on December 10, 1950.
Lyle always enjoyed traveling and learning new things. This lead him to many different jobs and new scenery. He drove truck, worked on a seismic crew, worked on ranches with both Hereford and Black Angus cattle. He brought some of the first television to the Bozeman area by setting up antenna towers for rural ranches. He also set up the sound systems for concerts, and met country legends such as Little Jimmy Dickens, Slim Whitman and Marvin Rainwater and others popular in that era..
A Fuller Brush sales route brought the family to Sanders County in 1960. Lyle worked in most phases of the timber industry, from cat skinning, logging truck driving to working in the saw mill. He liked working with wood, he could make anything from: lawn furniture to intricate picture frames to a house.
They opened Hill’s Electronics in Plains. He could fix your TV or sell you a new one. Lyle had one of the first CB’s in the area and was active in the local CB club, and made friends nation wide. Lyle made and sold fishing tackle in a 3 state area.
Lyle always found time to volunteer in the community. He was co-founder of the gun club at Eddy, teaching gun safety to the local youth, with NRA qualifications and medals. He held several offices in the local Search and Rescue and served 3 terms as Commander of the Montana State Search and Rescue organization. He also did a term as Civil Defense Director for Sanders County.
After retiring, Lyle & Clara were snow birds for 23 years. Often they managed a snow bird RV park in Arizona in the winter and worked in an RV park in Minnesota in the summer. In his travels, he learned to fix windshields and make custom jewelry. He worked with leather, wire sculpture, silver cutlery and many other things that caught his fancy.
In all their travels Lyle never found any place that he liked any better than Sanders County, Montana, so when travel became too challenging, the settled in Hot Springs.
A family memorial service will be held at a later date.