Johnny Ferguson Hill, Sr., age 88, of Marlinton, died in Lewisburg Saturday, March 29, surrounded by loving family.
Johnny was born May 22, 1936, in Murfreesboro, North Carolina. His father, Haygood White Hill, was an auto mechanic and later an insurance agent, and his mother, Bessie Ferguson Hill, was a teacher for many years. All were long time members of the Murfreesboro United Methodist Church. Johnny loved sports as a child (and throughout his life), playing endless games of baseball, football and basketball with friends, and was even able to travel a couple of times to Raleigh for the Dixie Classic basketball tournament, and to Washington, D.C., to see the Boston Red Sox and his hero, Ted Williams, take on the old Senators.
After first attending Chowan College in Mur-freesboro, Johnny transferred to his beloved Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, where he majored in mathematics and was president of the Men’s Glee Club, which performed on the Ed Sullivan show his senior year. While at Duke he met the love of his life, Rachel Louise McCastlain Hill. They were inseparable – as members of the Duke Chapel choir, playing hours of bridge with friends, or simply strolling through campus – and were married December 28, 1957, in Ridgely, Tennessee.
After graduation, Johnny began his life-long role as an educator and mentor, first teaching high school mathematics and coaching football in Martinsville, Virginia, while also earning his master’s degree at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. In 1964, Johnny, Rachel, and the growing family moved to Oxford, Ohio, where he began a 40-year career at Miami University, with a brief stop to complete his PhD at Indiana University in Bloomington. As a professor in Miami’s College of Education and the Department of Mathematics, as a faculty member and later principal at Miami’s McGuffey Laboratory School, as a supervisor at Miami’s European campus in Luxembourg, and at hundreds of workshops/ lectures throughout Ohio and the U.S., Johnny’s knowledge, dedication, passion, and humor were instrumental in helping thousands of students and already-established teachers become better educators. During his time at Miami he received many recognitions, including the Ohio Council of Teachers of Mathematics Christofferson-Fawcett award (1993) and the Miami Alumni Association’s Effective Educator award (1990), and was honored to be selected as Grand Marshal for commencements and other ceremonies.
In Oxford, Johnny and Rachel were loving nurturers to their four children, bringing that same passion and humor to their roles as parents. As members of the Oxford United Methodist Church or as coaches/supporters/mentors to the children’s activities, Johnny and Rachel truly cherished their home in the close-knit Oxford/Miami community.
During this time, Johnny and Rachel continued to enjoy their shared love of music, especially classical music. Both were choir members at church, where Johnny was often a soloist. Along with Rachel and daughter, Leigh, as accompanists, Johnny and his three sons, Jeff, Fenton and Eric, formed a very active singing quartet, which later grew as the children married and “enlisted” their new spouses to join the group.
Johnny and Rachel shared a love for travel and seeing the country together, visiting all 50 states and several countries in Europe. Mountains were a particular thrill for Johnny, a passion that originated during his college summers when he was a counselor and program director at Camp Sequoyah in the Appalachian Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina.
As retirement beckoned, Johnny and Rachel continued to embrace that love for mountain vistas, as they and the family became amateur designers, carpenters, electricians, etc., and built a new home on a mountainside in Pocahontas County, near the town of Marlinton. There they fell in love with the community, became members of the Marlinton United Methodist Church and its choir, enjoyed and supported the local music scene and Pocahontas County Opera House, hiked and rode through the forests, rushed to the windows to watch Navy jets perform eye-level fly-bys, hosted and entertained their growing brood of grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and spent countless hours overlooking the beautiful Greenbrier River valley.
Johnny was able to stay in his beloved home despite health problems in recent years, thanks to the folks at Seneca Trail Physical Therapy, the staff at the Pocahontas Memorial Hospital, support and care team organizers/members including Trish and Mike McNaull, Stephanie Beverage, Chip Adkins, Robin Workman, Brenda Duboise, and the late Janet May, as well as many neighbors and friends from the Marlinton community, and especially the Marlinton United Methodist Church.
Johnny is survived by daughter, Rachel Leigh Foy, and her husband, Greg, of York, Pennsylvania; son Jeff (Johnny F. Hill II), and his wife, Gina, of Fort Collins, Colorado; son, Fenton, and his wife, Michelle, of Boulder, Colorado; son Eric, and his wife, Jennifer, of Fairfield, Ohio; and sister-in-law, Rosa E. Hill, of Poquoson, Virginia. He leaves many loving and adoring descendants – 10 grandchildren, six grandchildren-in-law, and 11 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his beloved Rachel, his parents, and his brother, Walter W. Hill.
Memorial services will be held in both of his cherished communities.
First, in Marlinton, at the Marlinton United Methodist Church Thursday, May 8, at 5 p.m., with a light reception and live music at 6 p.m. at the Pocahontas County Op-era House.
In Oxford, Ohio, at the Oxford United Methodist Church, there will be a service Saturday, May 10, at 11 a.m., followed by a reception.
Interment will be at the Oxford Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Pocahontas Memorial Hospital Auxiliary, Marlinton United Methodist Church, McCullough-Hyde Memorial Hospital Foundation (Oxford, OH), or the Oxford (OH) United Methodist Church.