Doug Hill
Posted: October 2, 2019
Douglas Carlyle Hill, 90, passed away on Saturday, September 28, 2019, at Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus, after a brief illness. A Memorial Service will be held on Thursday, October 03, 2019, at 11:00 AM from Piney Grove United Methodist Church in Steens, with Bro. Andy Tentoni and Bro. James Black officiating. Lowndes Funeral Home and Crematory is honored to be entrusted with final arrangements. Doug was born in May of 1929 in Smithville, MS, to the late Allen C. and Agnes H. Hill. After graduating from Tuscaloosa (AL) High School, he served in a U.S. Army armored division during the Korean War. Upon discharge in 1953, Doug entered Mississippi State University, where he studied business administration while working part-time as a lumber grader. Also in that year, Doug met the love of his life Yvonne, whom he married in 1954. Upon receiving his business degree in 1956, he and Yvonne moved to Philadelphia, where he joined the Insular Lumber Company as a salesman. From 1958 to 1991, Doug traveled the world on behalf of the company, including to every continent except Antarctica. As part of his responsibilities, he and his family moved to the Philippines in the early 70s for a four-year tour as sales manager of the company’s lumber mill in Negros Occidental. During his time at the Philadelphia headquarters, he and his family lived in Levittown, Bensalem, and Humeville. In addition, from 1977 to 1990, he and his wife, Yvonne, operated a retail store specializing in exotic woods from around the world. Upon retiring from the Insular Lumber Company as vice president of sales in 1991, Doug and Yvonne returned to the Columbus, MS area, buying a home in Steens and proudly naming it the “Hill O’ Beans Farm,” raising bison and growing “you pick” blueberries and muscadine for many years. They were also devoted members of the Piney Grove United Methodist Church, where Doug served as an Honorary Member of the Board of Trustees. Doug and Yvonne also enjoyed operating a small hot dog stand at local festivals and fairs, where Doug “relished” his role as chief marketer to Yvonne’s assembly manager. Doug inherited his passion for wood-working from his father that led him to build four sailboats by hand during his life, including his prized yawl sailboat in the Philippines, which he brought back with him upon his return to Philadelphia in 1975. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife of 63 years, Yvonne (Harrington) Hill; grandson, Jessie Hill; brothers, Dudley, Jack and Kenneth; and sister, Phyllis Duke. He is survived by his sons, Jed and Craig Hill and their spouses, Jim Mason and Lorrie Hill; grandson ,Joshua Hill; and sister, Frances Ledbetter.