Obituary for Elsie May Hill

Elsie May Hill

November 15, 1923 – December 22, 2022

If you woke up last Thursday with the urge to bake an apple pie, complete a crossword puzzle, ride a horse, or cut out an article from the newspaper and send it to a loved one, then you might have had the spirit of Elsie May (Todd) Hill in you. Elsie May left this earth Wednesday, December 22, 2022, after a long and happy life of 99 years.

Elsie May was born on November 15, 1923, in what is now called the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Osage County to Dilla Mabel (Boles) and George Oscar Todd. She was the 4th of 5 children and the only one who her father named. Growing up, Elsie May loved to work outside, play with her siblings outside, run barefoot through the hills outside, and ride horses outside; she did not love being inside. She graduated from Bowring High School in 1941. She met Gerald Erin Hill through mutual friends and started dating him when he saved her from a bad date while ice skating on a pond behind his mother’s house in January of 1942. They were married just months later on September 6, 1942, in a small ceremony with only 3 guests; his mother, her mother, and his little brother. Billy Lee was born in February 1944 and shortly after that, Elsie May boarded a packed train with one suitcase and a baby to North Carolina where Gerald was stationed before he was shipped off to war. When Gerald came home, the family of three became a family of four when Geralyn May was born in January 1948.

Elsie May and Gerald lived primarily in Uncasand Ponca City, and they bought their farm outside of Ponca City in 1957. Elsie May worked in the Uncas school lunchroom for a time, but her happiest times were on that farm and being outside working it. She stayed there even after Gerald passed away in November 1998, working well into her 90s, tending to her large garden, driving the tractor in the pasture, and killing “the bad” snakes with a shovel. In 2016, Elsie May moved to Creekside Village Assisted Living where she made many new friends.

Elsie May’s name changed to “Bambi” when her grandchildren renamed her and that’s what the people she loved most in this world (AKA her grandchildren) called her.

Bambi loved her family, her children, horses, reading, sewing, puzzles, baking for her grandchildren, spoiling her grandchildren, and bragging about her grandchildren. She was independent, strong, stubborn and loyal. She loved fiercely those who loved her. She would give you the shirt off her back if you needed it, but she would probably just sew one for you before you could ask. She told the best bedtime stories and was a great head scratcher. Anybody who didn’t like the taste of soap better not cuss in front of her. She loved her friends and the staff at Creekside. She looked forward to getting letters in the mail and visitors to her home. She loved a lot of humans, but she was even more loved in return.

Elsie May is preceded in death by her husband Gerald, her granddaughter Ronda Lyn (McBride) Wheeler, her parents Dilla and George, her sister Margie (Todd) Myers and husband Luther Myers, her sister Dorothy (Todd) Blake and husband Harry Blake, her brother Bill Todd and wife Sandy Todd, her brother George Todd, her brother in law Wilber HIll and wife Christine Hill, her sister in law Francis (Hill) Huffman and husband Dean Huffman, her sister in law Frieda Hill, her nephew Luther “Tunk” Myers, her niece Louise Hill, and many treasured friends and relatives.

She is survived by her son Bill L. Hill, daughter in law Cheryl (Wilson) Hill, Daughter Geralyn M. (Hill) McBride, and son in law Charles Lyn McBride. Her Grandchildren Mark Hill and Stephanie (Barnard) Hill, Michelle (Hill) Hudson and John Hudson, Raegan McBride-West and Shannon West, Charles L McBride Jr and Janice McBride, and John Wheeler. Her Great Grandchildren Maddison (Hill) Ritchey and Caleb Ritchey, Micah (Hill) Redmond and Dontae Redmond, Chandler Hudson and Alyssa Hudson, Chase Hudson, Camryn Hudson, Tristan Wheeler, Ethan West, Mehgan (McBride) Griffin and Stephen Griffin, Caitlyn McBride, and Kyle McBride. Her Great Great Grandchildren Riley Ritchey, Damien Redmond, Walter Griffin, Laurel Griffin, and Charlie Griffin. Her brother in law Carrol Hill, and sister in law Dorothy (Udene) Todd. Her many, MANY adored nieces and nephews (Tommy, Sue, Russel, Alan, Mike, Marty, Julie, Jill, Jeff, Tim, Gary, Larry, Melinda, Ron, Doug, Roger, Kyle, and their kids, and their kids…) and many beloved friends who were like family.

Viewing will be at Trout funeral home, Thursday, December 29 from 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM and Friday, December 30, from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM. She will be interred at the Boulanger Family Cemetery in Boulanger, Oklahoma, next to her husband.

The family requests donations to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research in lieu of flowers, but they will also accept a homemade apple pie using Bambi’s recipe.

Arrangements are under the direction of Trout Funeral Home & Crematory, 505 W Grand Ave, Ponca City, OK 74601.

Source: Trout Funeral Home