Jean Marie Hill

Jean Marie Hill passed away quietly on Sunday morning, March 24th, after a prolonged battle with cancer. Jean was born in Kingston, Ontario on October 13, 1952 and moved to Prince Edward Island and then to New Westminster, British Columbia where she spent most of her early life and which she considered her home town. After graduating from high school in New Brunswick in 1970, Jean followed her sister Elizabeth to Acadia University where she completed her BSc in biology in 1974. In her last year at Acadia she met her husband-to-be on a geology field trip to the Magdalene Islands. They were married in the Acadia Chapel on May 4th, 1974.

Jean and her husband John moved to London Ontario where she took an MSc degree in micropaleontology, focusing on chitinozoa. Much to her delight, her thesis took her to remote and beautiful Baillie-Hamilton Island in the northern Arctic. They moved to St. John’s, Newfoundland where she worked as a research assistant at Memorial University and later for the Department of Mines and Energy. In 1982, Jean and John decided to sell everything and sail the seas for a year or two. Unfortunately, winter arrived before a suitable sailboat could be found, so they bought a small motorhome and travelled across North America before returning to the working world. Although the time went by quickly, they acquired wonderful memories of families and places that enriched both their lives.

Upon returning to the “real world”, Jean and John went through a succession of moves to London Ontario, Wolfville Nova Scotia and then Ottawa where Jean worked as a research assistant with the Geological Survey of Canada for three years. Their final move was to Halifax Nova Scotia when John accepted a teaching position at the Technical University of Nova Scotia in 1987. For the first few years in Halifax, Jean worked as a micropaleontologist at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. She then changed streams, completing a Master of Urban and Rural Planning at TUNS in 1997. She attended a planning lecture during her studies where she learned about an opportunity to work in The Gambia in West Africa in 1996 with the Nova Scotia – Gambia Association. She had always dreamed of visiting and working in Africa and this was a unique opportunity for her. This was the first of many trips by Jean to The Gambia (and Senegal and Sierra Leone) over the next nine years, where she took part in the University Extension Program, community planning research and health education. Jean loved The Gambia and its people, and she found this period to be the most rewarding of her working life. In his book about the time he spent in the University Extension Program in The Gambia, Momodou Sabally wrote that Jean’s concern and professionalism toward her students were remarkable. When her African sojourn ended, Jean enjoyed working at the Topiary in the Hydrostone Market in Halifax for a few years before retiring.

Jean’s passions were many including music, needlework, reading, travel, animals, sailing, camping and gardening, especially at her cottage on Caribou Island in Nova Scotia. Jean is remembered with love by her husband John (Halifax), her sister Elizabeth Mustard and Elizabeth’s children Tristan and Tory Khaner (Edmonton, Alberta), her father Dr. John Mustard (Victoria, B.C.), her brother-in-law John Halet, niece Crystal Mendell and nephew Jason Mendell who reside in Texas, brother-in-law Ron Hill and his wife Sharron (Truro, Nova Scotia) as well as many cousins and friends. Jean is predeceased by her mother Pauline (Roy) Mustard (d. 2011, Victoria B.C.) and her sister Beverly (Mendell) Halet (d. 2011, Houston, Texas). As per her wish, Jean’s ashes were spread at a site of her choosing in a private ceremony.

It is difficult to accept that Jean is gone, but those who knew her will forever remember her wonderful smile and unwavering enthusiasm towards life and the people around her. Donations may be made in her memory to the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. In her own words, “thanks to all who knew me”. To view or send a condolence to the family please visit: www.cruikshankshalifaxfuneralhome.com