Joanna Betsey Hills

Joanna Betsey Hills, 84
CAPE ELIZABETH - It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the unexpected passing of Joanna Betsey Hills, on Oct. 4, 2017, at Maine Medical Center in Portland, two days shy of her 85th birthday. Joanna was born in Newton, Mass., to Alvan H. and Florence Denison Bullard, on Oct. 6, 1932, and was raised there with her brothers Alvan and Bob, and her sister, Ann. Theirs was an active family that enjoyed camping in New Hampshire and Maine, and spending holidays and wonderful times year-round at the Bullard Memorial Farm in Holliston, Mass.
Joanna's curiosity, creativity and her sense of adventure were cultivated at an early age by an artist mother and a father who loved the outdoors. Joanna lived life with open arms. She had compassionate eyes and a big, warm, giving heart, and made friends everywhere she went. She twinkled. She loved to laugh. She had magic.
Joanna graduated from Needham High School in 1950, and from Western College in Oxford, Ohio, in 1954 with a degree in psychology. After college she worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield in New York City, followed by a move to Boston in 1956 to work at MIT's Instrumentation Lab. That same year she met and married Frederic Hills. During their 14-year marriage, the couple lived in Norwell, where they raised their three children.
Joanna loved to be around people, young and old. But teaching children was her true calling. Whether teaching kids to swim in Needham, Norwell, and Hanover, Mass., or fourth graders about the natural world with the Massachusetts Audubon Society, or third grade students in the Braintree Public School system, or as a unit director at Wyonegonic Camps in Denmark, Maine, Joanna was everything a teacher should be -- patient, inspiring, committed, and kind.
Later, Joanna was a valued team member at various corporations, including Apollo Computer Company, Stardent Computer, Inc., and MIT's Media Lab.
Joanna passed along to us, her children and grandchildren, her love of life, her curiosity in people, her compassion for all living things, and her adventurous spirit. She will be forever missed and cherished by her family: son Scott and daughter-in-law Leslie Hills (Taylor and Lindsay), daughter Jennifer and son-in-law Peter MacDonald (Aidan and Duncan), and son Tad Hills and daughter-in-law Lee Wade (Elinor and Charlie); sister Ann Tomlinson; and several nieces and nephews.
We miss her smile, her laugh, and her bright light.
We are deeply grateful to the staff at Kindred Care at Village Crossings in Cape Elizabeth for the amazing care and love given her during the past four and a half years.
An informal celebration of her life will be held at the Bullard Memorial Farm, 7 Bullard Lane, Holliston, Mass., on Sunday, Nov. 5, at noon.

In lieu of flowers,
donations may be made to the
Bullard Memorial
Farm Association,
the Massachusetts Audubon Society,
Wyonegonic Camps,
or the Western College
Alumni Association