Recent Deaths

Sister Mary Pat Hill
1947–2016

Sister Mary Pat Hill, 69, died peacefully on August 14, 2016 at Hillview Health Care Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

She was born in La Crosse on May 15, 1947 to Merle and Ann Marie (Daly) Hill, the oldest of six children, and grew up in La Crosse. She joined the Servants of Mary in 1961 as a high school freshman. Her first profession of vows was made in 1967 and her final profession was celebrated in 1974.

Sister received a bachelor of arts degree with a major in education and a minor in social studies from Mount Senario College in Ladysmith, Wis. She earned an MA in applied theology from the Graduate Theological Union School of Applied Theology in Berkley, Calif. She also attended a summer program at the Maryknoll School of Theology in Maryknoll, New York.

Her ministries included 13 years teaching elementary school in Minnesota, New Jersey, and Wisconsin. For six years she served as an Informational Systems Staff Member at Bread for the World, a collective Christian voice in Washington D.C., that urges elected officials to end hunger in the U.S. and abroad. She was a team member at Groundwork for a Just World, a social justice organization of approximately 5000 members in Detroit. From 1997 until her death she had a free lance website ministry called Hill Connections.

An avid social justice activist, Sister served on several national and Servite justice and peace boards and committees, and volunteered with a number of social justice and legislative organizations. She could often be found marching or boycotting for social justice causes and issues. She also participated in immersion experiences in Mexico and Nicaragua.

Sister Mary Pat died in her 49th year of religious profession. She was preceded in death by her mother, Anne Marie Hill, a brother, Thomas Joseph Hill, a sister Catherine Ann Yeager, and a stepmother, Jayne Nault Hill. She is survived by her father, Merle J. Hill, sisters Elizabeth Hennig, Margaret Soller, a brother James Paul Hill, and her Servite Community.

A Memorial Service led by Servite Sisters was held on August 17 at Blaschke & Schneider Funeral Home in La Crosse. Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on, August 19 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Ladysmith, with burial in the convent cemetery in Ladysmith.

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