David Eugene Hill

David’s memorial service will be 1 p.m., Saturday, January 20th at the United Presbyterian Church, 209 N. 2nd Ave. E. in Newton.

The family will greet friends immediately following the memorial service with a coffee time at the church.

A private family burial will be held at the Palo Alto Cemetery in rural Newton.

There will also be a memorial service for David at 1:30 p.m., Saturday, February 3rd at the First Presbyterian Church, 1702 Iowa St in Davenport.

In lieu of flowers the family requests memorials to the IlIowa Council of the Boy Scouts of America or to Troop 7 of the Boy Scouts of America in Davenport. The memorials may be left at the church on the morning of the service or at the Wallace Family Funeral Home. Memorials may also be mailed to the Wallace Family Funeral Home, 1115 E. 19th St. N., Newton, IA 50208, please add, Attn: Hill Family on the envelope.

David Eugene Hill, the son of Eugene Marshall Hill and Ruth Helen [Ryburn] Hill, was born October 23, 1947 in Clarinda, Iowa. He moved to the current family home in Newton, Iowa, in 1949 and attended Newton Schools, graduating from Newton Senior High School in 1965.

He attended the State College of Iowa [now named the University of Northern Iowa] from 1965 to 1969 and then taught high school in northeast Iowa in 1970.

He then worked for the Strieter Motor company in Davenport as a mechanic while pursuing a side interest in flying. He was very active at the airport in Davenport.  Within a few years, he got a job as a pilot, flight instructor and aviation mechanic at Midwest Aviation airport, now called Carver Aero, where he worked until his recent retirement in 2017.

David loved the outdoors. He was actively involved in skiing, cycling, camping, and kayaking. He participated in RAGBRAI and TOMRV cycling events, and went kayaking in rivers around the country, including 'class V or VI' river rapids. He was part of many sporting groups, and loved to encourage others to get involved, and to help and mentor them to increase their skills.  He taught kayaking at the local Y in Davenport, and was very active in the Saukenuk Paddlers Canoe & Kayak Club and the Quad Cities Bicycle Club.

He became the Scoutmaster of Boy Scout Troop 7 (connected to the First Presbyterian Church in Davenport) in 1971 when he was just 23 years old. He continued serving as a Scoutmaster for 46 years, helping hundreds of scouts discover the enjoyment and excitement of the outdoors.  He took the scouts white-water rafting and on sub-zero campouts. He loved to impress the boys by baking cakes in his Dutch oven and to astound them by starting fires with water! He was particularly good at encouraging high achievement among his scouts, and led 48 of them to the level of Eagle Scout. He received a number of awards, including the Silver Beaver award for distinguished service.

David died on Tuesday, January 9, 2018, from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Clinton County, Iowa. He was 70. He was preceded in death by his father, Eugene Marshall Hill of Newton, Iowa, and by his paternal grandparents, George Rowland Hill and Minnie Abigail (Rees) (Hill) Johnston of Newton, Iowa and by his maternal grandparents, Charles Adolphus Ryburn and Hazel Aurena (Winchell) Ryburn of Heyworth, Illinois.

David is survived by his mother, Ruth Helen Hill of Newton; his brothers Robert Alan Hill of Tabor, South Dakota, and John Charles Hill of San Francisco, CA; his sister Patricia Ruth Hill and her husband John Klause of Middletown, Connecticut and his niece Amanda Klause of Philadelphia, PA; his sister Kathleen Marie Andreae and her husband Peter Andreae and his niece Helen Andreae, all of Wellington, New Zealand, and his nephew Christopher Andreae of Tokyo, Japan.

 Service Information