Judith (Judy) A. Hill went to be with her Lord at age 81 on Monday, November 29, 2021 at Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland, Colorado. She died peacefully after a courageous weeks long battle with Covid-19. Born in 1940 in Brooklyn, New York to parents John and Mildred Hornung. Judy liked to share memories of growing up on Long island, the youngest of 3 children. Later the family moved to Detroit, Michigan where Judith attended Redford High School and Michigan State University. At college she met Buryl Hill and they were married in Lansing Michigan. She was an amazing home maker to four children. Judith cared deeply about the well-being of those less fortunate. Judith gave her time to teaching Sunday school at Calvin Presbyterian church and volunteering for HUD in Detroit. The marriage later ended in divorce, after which Judith attended nursing school and graduated with honors from Sinai-Grace Nursing school in 1976.
As a nurse, Judith worked in dialysis at Ford Hospital in Detroit and eventually she had a long career as an ICU nurse at Hemet Hospital in Hemet, California. She loved taking care of her patients and had a determination to make them comfortable and help them understand the treatment they were getting. She attended young and old with a servant's heart. Judith also answered the call to be a missionary by taking several opportunities to administer pray and medicine in Guatemala, Mexico, and the Philippines. She devoted herself to service of the Lord Jesus Christ and visited Israel in the 1990's. She retired from nursing in 1999 and moved to Ft. Collins, Colorado to be closer to her son, Buryl (Bob) Hill and his three children. Grammy's house was the gathering place for special occasions, always open and always full of home cooking and treats. Many treasured memories were created there.
Judith took her service to the Lord very seriously and was grateful to devote herself to converting to Catholicism and to belonging to the Carmelites. She loved regularly volunteering at the local soup kitchen and visiting friends at area nursing homes. We all know Judith as a prayer warrior. Her children and grandchildren do not take it for granted that she said daily prayers for our well-being and will continue to pray for us always and forever. She was a gift and a bright light to all who knew her. In Ft. Collins, Judith and her eldest daughter, Cheryl, signed up to be tutors through a program at CSU and a local church for Chinese students who wanted to improve English language skills and learn more about American culture. In true Judith fashion, with her heart of gold, these 'students' became a part of her extended family and each one now call her their American mom. Judith enjoyed needle crafts and could be found on the couch with her kittens cuddled up knitting for charities, friends and family.
Judith is survived by her four children, Cheryl Sanderhill, Salt Lake City, Buryl (Bob) Hill and wife Linda, Ft. Collins, Eva Redford, Ft. Collins, Diana Wright and husband Doug, Durango, CO. She leaves behind seven beautiful grandchildren ages 31-18, Austin Redford, Chad Hill, Garrett Redford, Natalie Hill, Cody Hill, Chloe Redford, and Roman Speegle. She greatly enjoyed her 3 great grandchildren as well. Judith is also survived by her older sister Janet Kitchen (Brighton, Michigan) and Cousin Sandy (California). She was preceded in death by her first husband, Buryl (Bus) Hill, her brother, John Hornung II and her parents.
Services will commence at St. John XXIII on 1220 University Ave, Fort Collins, CO 80521 on Friday, December 10, 2021 3PM and Saturday, December 11, 2021 at 10AM. Interment will be at a later date.
Interment will begin at 10:30 am August 15, 2022 at Grandview Cemetery, 1900 W. Mountain Ave., Ft. Collins, Colorado on Monday. Judith's ashes will be entombed in a Mausoleum. Catholic Blessings and Rite of Committal will take place the next day at 9:00 am, Tuesday, August 16, 2022 at the Grandview Cemetery Mausoleum. Please join us for refreshments at 10:00 am at City Park, with details to be determined at service, August 16th, following the Rites of Committal.