Kaneville resident, business owner remembered for ‘making everyone feel special’

Having an ice cream is one of life’s simple pleasures.

Serving it to others was an even bigger treat for Pat Hill.

Hill, the owner of Hill’s Country Store in Kaneville, passed away Jan. 17 after a seven-year battle with cancer.

“She really loved helping people,” said her daughter, Alexa Hill. “When she could do something for someone that’s what made her smile. It made her happy to be see other people happy and she was always doing one thousand different things at the same time.”

A world that could use a little more peace, love and understanding, lost one of its great ambassadors: a selfless soul who lived her life to the fullest while putting the interests of others always before her own.

“Pat was always one to enjoy every moment,” next door neighbor Cathy Kovach said. “We were extended family from day one. Anytime there was a birthday, graduation or something to celebrate, she did it and appreciated it. We all need to be doing that celebrating of every tiny little thing to stay positive. She was good at that.”

The baby girl from a family of eight children, Pat grew up in the Lisle area and graduated from Downers Grove North in 1982. As beautiful on the inside as out, she became a professional model, doing work for J.C. Penny and Revlon. She then worked in the hotel industry where she met her future husband, Cliff. She would also work as an executive assistant for Superior Maintenance.

It didn’t take long for Pat to fall in love with Kaneville after the Hill family moved to town in 1995 and she’d ultimately serve for 10 years in Kaneville government, including as village president. She worked as a lunchroom monitor at Blackberry Creek Elementary School and as a teacher’s aide at Kaneville Community Child Center before finding her way to The Purple Store, which she would work at for a number of years before purchasing the store in 2007 and renaming it Hill’s Country Store.

Her store became much more than just a store.

With grill outs, movie nights, fundraising events and more, her store became everyone’s home away from home, a convenience store version of the sitcom “Cheers,” where visitors were greeted by her beaming smile and grabbed coffees and cold Mountain Dews, as well slices of homemade apple pie and chocolate chip cones, and perhaps even newspapers.

When Pat first started working at The Purple Store in 2001, Alexa was 11 and son Tyler was 5. They’d come in and fill their own little brown bags with penny and nickel candy.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, Alexa was graduating college and Tyler was still in high school. They’ve been helping care for their mother and handling duties at the store ever since. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree; it goes in one of Alexa’s delicious desserts.

“The legacy she left is amazing,” said Maria Dripps-Paulson, executive director of the Kaneland Arts Initiative. “Look how amazing her children are, because Alexa and Tyler basically stopped what they were doing in their regular lives to take care of her. When I saw Alexa she said, ‘We’re doing what we have to do. We just do what we were taught.’ That’s how they are.”

While thousands of hearts grieve, those fortunate to have known Pat recognize that she would prefer if folks would toss aside the facial tissue and get out and live their todays, to care and love their neighbors, lift up their community, and to remember that time is short so make the most of life everyday.

Few could deliver such a cheerful message and reminder, but unlike ice cream and its countless flavors and variations, there was only one Pat Hill, whose impact will live on by the many she influenced through her actions.

“You could do a photo montage of pictures of children with Pat as the Easter Bunny and of all these events and movie nights,” Dripps-Paulson said. “She was just so welcoming with her smile and always there to help try to find a solution for you.”

For at least a decade, Pat set up shop selling food at the annual KAI Festival at Kaneland High School and served complimentary lunch to the 30 or so artists.

“She sold her stuff and came in and used the kitchen with permission, but left it as if it were never touched and she fed all our artists,” Dripps-Paulson said. “She also fed so many of our volunteers and helpers too. That was Pat.”

Pat contributed to numerous charitable organizations, including Cayce’s Charities, Chicagoland Italian American Charitable Organization, Toys for Tots, the Visiting Nurses Association and the Walter and Connie Payton Foundation, among others. She was equally passionate about grassroots charity efforts. And, of course, she was all about having a good times too so she gladly accepted the ALS ice bucket challenge.

When a tornado ripped through Southern Illinois in 2012, destroying homes and claiming seven lives, Pat helped collect personal hygiene items and a few hundred dollars. While tragedies rocked the world and others faced unique challenges within the community, Pat was always there willing to contribute in anyway she could.

While it took more courage and stamina than most can muster in a lifetime to battle her cancer, Pat crammed innumerable happy memories into just short of 57 years during her adventurous life. Like so many, she deserved many more.

“She always wanted to go to Hawaii,” Alexa Hill said. “That was a dream of hers. Her best friend Deb got the deal and she took me too and it was amazing. Mom fell in love with it so we went again the next year and we made some awesome memories that will last a lifetime.”

Pat even saved the post office.

As many small, rural post offices like Kaneville’s were closing, Pat urged her fellow residents to write their congressmen and fight for theirs. Hours were cut, but today the post office remains open six days a week.

“When something needed to be done or you wanted to have fun she did it,” Alexa Hill said. “She’s just forever young. She taught me what to do and I kind of follow in her footsteps. It makes me happy to help other people. It’s a good feeling.”

The same way Pat made everyone feel. She made everyone feel special.