John "Jack" Hill

STURGIS - John "Jack" Hill, 81, Sturgis, SD, died Friday, April 14, 2006, at the Fort Meade VA Medical Center. Visitation will be Monday from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. and will resume Tuesday one hour prior to the services in Piedmont. Funeral services will be held Tuesday, April 18, 2006, at 1:30 p.m. at Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church in Piedmont with Rev. Jon Mapa officiating. Burial will follow at Black Hills National Cemetery. John "Jack" H. Hill was born in Wakefield, Michigan on June 6, 1924, the son of William A. and Viano K. (Syrjala) Hill. He attended school there, graduating from Wakefield High School in 1942. From 1943 to 1946, he served in the United States Army Signal Corps, with overseas duty in India. A graduate of Suomi Theological Seminary in Hancock, Michigan, he was ordained a pastor of the Lutheran Church - Suomi Synod in 1951. He then served as Assistant Pastor at St. Mark's Lutheran Church in Waukegan, Illinois. On April 25, 1952, he was married to Carol Karjala of Waukegan, IL. The couple later served congregations of the denomination at Wing and Kintyre, ND, until 1959, when they moved to Lead, SD. There he was pastor of First Lutheran Church and of Cave Hills Lutheran Church, Buffalo, SD. In 1967, Immanuel Lutheran Church in Whitewood became a congregation of the parish. He was pastor of the three churches until his retirement in 1989. During and after his tenure, he also conducted numerous special services at the Little Dane Church at Dry Creek (St. Onge). The Hills moved to Sturgis in 1989. Pastor Hill was a member of the Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church of Piedmont, SD. After his retirement, he was active in ministry in other congregations of the Bear Butte Conference of the SD Synod of Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. These include Sturgis, Hill City, Buffalo, SD, Ladner, SD, Capitol, MT, Philip-Midland, SD, Vale-Newell-Zeona, and Belle Fourche. He also served at Broadus, MT, in the Montana Synod of the ELCA. Grateful for having shared his life are his wife, Carol, Sturgis; daughter, Deborah and Jeff Helmer of Belle Fourche, SD; one son, John and Dawnna of Omaha, NE; granddaughters Tuula and Steve Van Dam of Rapid City, Minna and Steve Biehl of Belle Fourche, Abbey and Jeremy Fall of Spearfish; grandson, Hayden, and granddaughter Kieran, of Omaha, NE; and by great-grandsons, Brennan, Nathaniel, and Owen Van Dam of Rapid City; great-granddaughters, Natalia and Tavey Biehl, Belle Fourche; brothers, Raymond and Leona of Wakefield, MI, The Rev. William and Carmela of Lansing, MI, Richard of Ft. Pierce, FL, Peter and Martha of Osceola, WI; and sisters, Melba Bramer of Escanaba, MI, and Margaret of Wakefield, MI; several nephews, nieces, and their families. His parents preceded him in death. The family prefers memorials to Suomi (Finlandia) College, Hancock, MI, Luther-Northwestern Seminary of the ELCA, and the Piedmont Valley Lutheran Church.