Jacob S. Hillman

I was so shocked and saddened to hear of Jake´s passing. He was such a wonderful person and the world is truly a poorer place without him in it. I met Jake in 2017 when I came to Alaska as a new post-doc with the Forest Service, and I could immediately tell that we would get along. Jake was one of the most open, unguarded, generous, and unfailingly kind people I have ever met.
I think our friendship began when he mentioned during a listening session for work that he would go home at the end of the day and replay every conversation he had, looking for where he might have said something wrong, or done something better, or not followed some unwritten etiquette rule. When I told him that I do the same thing and that I completely understand how fraught social situations can feel, it was like we recognized something fundamental in each other.
Jake was one of only a handful of people I have ever felt completely comfortable around. I think he may have had that effect on a lot of people. He disarmed with his honesty, his kindness, and his goofy sense of humor. I looked forward to checking in with him every day, and to him chiding temperamental devices with a scathing, "your mother was an Etch-A-Sketch". I will never forget his delight when I brought him an Etch-A-Sketch shaped cake on his last day in the Anchorage office.
As happens with distance and time and life events piling up, Jake and I lost touch. But I always thought of him when I would watch my two little kids play with their Etch-A-Sketch while saying something unexpectedly kind, or insightful, or knock-you-backwards funny. I am so grateful to have had a chance to catch up with him at a work meeting a couple of weeks ago. We had a good, long conversation about his love of sailing, the adventures he´d had and was planning for the year ahead. We talked openly about the challenges we had faced and joys we´d found over the six years since we´d last spoken, traded hard-won advice, and made plans to get together the next time he made his way up to Anchorage.
I still have an unanswered text from Jake in my phone: "It´s SO great to see you!". I wish I had responded.
Jake, it was SO great to see you, too. I hope that the fairest of winds and calmest of seas greet you wherever you are. Thank you for making the world a sweeter place; you will be so missed.