Richard Wallace Hill

Richard was born in Salem, Illinois on September 3, 1934 to Raymond and Ginevra Hill. Richard had four older brothers, Eugene, Morris, Charles and Raymond Jr. and an older sister, Patricia. He attended elementary, junior high and high school in Illinois. Richard worked on the loading docks for the railroad during his high school years. He graduated high school in 1952 and moved from Chicago, Illinois to Albuquerque, New Mexico where he lived with his sister, Patricia and her husband, Robert while attending the University of New Mexico. For a while he worked in construction as a framer/carpenter. At one point he helped his sister and brother-in-law build their home in the Sandia Mountains. He also worked at a Chevron gas station where he learned how to work on cars. He became a lifelong Chevrolet and Chevron customer.

Richard met his wife, Linda East, on a blind date arranged by mutual friends. They were married February 3, 1956. Sometime after their marriage Richard entered into a four year machinist apprentice program at Sandia National Labs where he graduated a journeyman machinist. In November 1960, for a 5 cent an hour raise, the couple moved their young family from Albuquerque, NM to Livermore, CA. Richard worked for a short period at Sandia National Labs in Livermore before getting a job at Lawrence Livermore Labs, where he worked for 30 years. During his years at LLNL, Richard was Foreman/Lead of several shops, Supervisor of the N/C shop, Superintendent of the Material Fabrication Division and head of all supervisors and all machine shops, which was one step below Division Leader.

Richard had a passion for cars and the outdoors. He loved taking his family on boating, camping, and off road dune buggy trips. He joined the East Bay Hi-Tailers Dune Buggy Club in the late 60’s. He was president at least 2 times during his 10-15 years as a member. He built his own off road dune buggy and enjoyed annual trips through the Rubicon. In the late 70’s he built his own sand rail buggy and enjoyed trips to Pismo Beach and Sand Mountain.

In 1991 Richard and Linda moved to the Placerville/Somerset area where they lived on 5 acres. During their retirement, they enjoyed trips in their motor home to Arizona, New Mexico, New Orleans, Canada and Washington, DC. Richard had many special projects that kept him busy during his retirement. He rebuilt Volkswagen motors, made a water cooled flat bed truck out of a Volkswagen bug, and redesigned his 1972 Chevy motor home into a flatbed truck. He was constantly working to take care of his home and 5 acres, right up until the last 16 months of his life.

Richard was preceded in death by: his wife of 67 years, Linda Hill; parents, Raymond and Ginevra Hill; brothers, Morris Hill, Eugene Hill, Charles Hill and Ray Hill Jr.; sister and brother-in-law, Patricia and Robert O’Connell; granddaughter, Melissa Wood; daughter-in-law, Leslie Hill; grandsons, Ryan Wood and Jason Bingham.

He is survived by: his children, Cathy (Richard) Wood, Michael Hill, Steven (Margie) Hill; sister-in-law, Terri Tafreshi; seven grandchildren, twenty great-grandchildren, and one great great-grandchild.

Our dad, husband, and grandpa, was an amazing, intelligent man, who worked hard his whole adult life. He was a planner, determined and meticulous in everything he did. We knew we could always count on him if we needed help, had a question or a problem to solve. He will be deeply missed.

There will be a celebration of his life with family and friends. The date has yet to be determined.