Ammon John Hill Jr.

1934 - 2023

Ammon John Hill Jr., a former longtime Juneau, Alaska, resident and currently of Mountain Home, Arkansas, passed away on Jan. 14, 2023, in his home in Mountain Home.

Ammon was born on Jan. 6, 1934, in San Pedro, California, to John and Tillie (Burgdorff) Hill.

Ammon is survived by his fiancée, Lynn Slusser of Mountain Home; a daughter, Ella (David) Selfridge Panther of Seattle, Washington; stepdaughters Beth (Tim) Andes-Young of Cuba City, Wisconsin, and Lori (Teil) Buzzell of Juneau, Alaska; step-grandchildren Danti Andes of Hales Corner, Wisconsin, Tyne (Marcus) Andes-Simmonsof Dubuque, Iowa, Teilhard Buzzell of Juneau, Alaska, and Zachary Young of Ames, Iowa; step-great-granddaughter, Mercedez Simmons of Dubuque, Iowa, and nieces and a nephew in California.

Ammon was preceded in death by his parents; half-brother Melvin Charles Bowers and a half-sister, Dorothy Pearl Bowers. He was previously married to Venus Zink and Janice Reed Hill.

Ammon's life was a smorgasbord of talent. His youngest years were spent in Southern California. He then moved to Alaska where he stayed for 40 years before moving to Wisconsin, Illinois and settling in Mountain Home in 2009. Ammon's happiest and fondest memories were from the wilds of Alaska and hearing the cry of the wolf.

Ammon's childhood was heavily influenced by the 1930s depression years and the 1940s with WWII. He believed the product of the great depression and WWII was people that truly formed America's "Greatest Generation." He went to work at 15 in his brother's oil field business. Ammon dropped going to college for a short time and was drafted into the U.S. Army Signal Corp and helped establish communications for an atomic-testing area in Nevada.

After the Army, he was hired to write specifications and review Apollo engineering changes for the rocket that went to the moon. In 1967, he left the missile and rocket programs and went to Alaska. During that time, he spent several years working for federal and local city engineering offices, purchased and operated an Alaskan gift shop dealing in Eskimo and Native items and for several years owned and operated a plumbing and heating business.

During the last years in Alaska, he worked for project managing firms doing inspection work on construction projects involving high-rise federal buildings, hospitals, installation of sewer and water systems, paving streets and airplane taxi runway projects. Especially in his early Alaskan days, he spent most of a summer along the Alaskan arctic coast installing aids for navigation for the U.S. Coast Guard while living on the icebreaker "North Wind." Ammon enjoyed feeding his family from the wilds of Alaska and went on annual hunting trips to various locations for moose and deer.

Ammon had a serious side concerning mental illness. He wrote on the subject and attended "The Alliance on Mental Illness" meetings to help and support those afflicted and their family members in various parts of the nation. He enjoyed writing articles and stories on a variety of subjects. These articles or stories have been published in an Alaskan magazine, local newspapers, even "Dear Abby." His most recent publication is a book containing several short stories of his life experiences in Alaska that he had written during the past several years. That book, "True Stories from the Wilds of Alaska" by Ammon "A.J." Hill may be purchased through Amazon.

There will be no funeral services, Ammon just wanted to "get into the ground" so that his family didn't have to contend with all the things that go along with funerals and burials. There will be a small gathering of family and friends at a later date in Mountain Home, Arkansas.

An online guestbook and obituary are available at www.connerfamilyfuneralhome.com.