1925 – 2016

AUBURN — Phyllis Arline (Foster) Hill, 90, died peacefully on Thursday, Sept. 15, at her residence at Clover Manor Care Facility in Auburn after a courageous battle with cancer.

Mrs. Hill was born in Monmouth on Dec. 15, 1925, a daughter of Roy C. and Madolyn F. (Proctor) Foster. She grew up in North Monmouth and Monmouth Center, graduating from Monmouth Academy in 1944. She enjoyed talking about her childhood memories, weathering the Depression Era by picking berries and sewing her own school dresses. She met her life-long love, Lester E. Hill Jr. while both were students at Monmouth Academy.

In 1948, Mrs. Hill graduated from Gorham State Teacher’s College and began her teaching career in the town of Skowhegan. She taught in Turner before settling into a long career teaching ancient history and English at Walton Junior High School in Auburn. She said ninth grade students were her favorite group because by that age she could already see the adult forming in the child. When she met students long after they had left her classroom, they would mention the ancient history timeline she had them make.

After leaving her teaching post at Walton Junior High School, Phyllis spent five years assisting at the Hundred Acres Nursery School established by her daughter, Patricia. After retirement, she tutored Monmouth students during their summer recess and loved seeing former students around town.

She married Lester E. Hill Jr. at the Monmouth United Church on June 19, 1949. They moved shortly after marriage to Auburn, where they later bought a farm and raised their three children. Phyllis was a member and past secretary of Sixth Street Congregational Church in Auburn. After retirement, Mr. and Mrs. Hill spent summers at their cottage on Cochnewagon Lake in Monmouth, where they attended the Monmouth United Church, and winters at their condo in Englewood, Fla., where they were members of the Englewood United Methodist Church. They made many friends at church and many more during the years they spent square-dancing in Maine. Her husband predeceased her on Feb. 14, 2013.

Phyllis was an avid craftsperson who loved tatting, crocheting, knitting and sewing intricate quilts. She gifted a handmade quilt to each of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and spent hours knitting dishcloths for family members and friends. She loved finding new hiking trails on their travels between Maine and Florida and loved swimming with her pool buddies at her Englewood, Fla. condo.

A favorite time of year for her was the family gathering she called Thanksmas, celebrated in early November. She would often mix up a batch of “ruby cooler” and invite family to their cottage for cookouts. When asked what she was most proud of she responded, “My family.”

She was also very proud to have authored a book on the history of Monmouth Academy and to have served as a long-time Monmouth Academy Alumni Association Trustee. She was elected in 1997 as the first woman president of the Monmouth Academy Alumni Association.

Surviving are her three children, Rodney L. (Anita) Hill of Minot, Patricia A. (David) St. Hilaire of Auburn, and Susan O. (Richard) Bixby of Sanbornville, N.H. Surviving siblings include two brothers, Robert Foster of Monmouth and Roy Foster Jr. of Belle Plain, Minn.; and two sisters, Mrs. Ruth Bragg of Brockton, Mass. and Marjorie Foster (Richard Mitchell) of Lake Placid, Fla. She is also survived by eight grandchildren; 12 great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by one sister, Mrs. Eleanor Hill.

The family wishes to thank the wonderful aides on the Carlow and Belfast units at Clover and the staff of Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice for their loving care.

Condolences may be shared with the family at www.thefortingroupauburn.com.