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Hal was born in 1935 to Harold and Ruth Hill in Hollywood, Calif. His father worked for Standard Oil, so he spent his life through high school moving around California and Washington state in a dozen different cities.
He graduated high school in Bakersfield, California, and went to Stanford University on a Naval ROTC scholarship. He initially studied geology with an idea to being a naturalist or park ranger, but decided that learning the necessary German wasn’t his life’s dream. Instead, he ended up as an Economics major.
He’d long been a cello player. As a member of the Stanford Orchestra, he met Gloria Vial, violinist and orchestra concert mistress.
After graduation, in 1957, he served in the Navy for two years, a Lieutenant JG on the USS Toledo, a heavy cruiser. After his term was up, he married Gloria. He went on to get his MBA from Stanford Business School, and entered the realm of banking with Wells Fargo. In the next few years, he and Gloria had two sons, David and John.
In 1968, he and his family moved from the Bay Area to the LA region. He continued to work in banking, moving into Human Resources at Wells, and then over to what was at the time First Interstate Bank. He briefly dabbled in the banking recruitment business in Colorado, before returning to First Interstate and California in 1977, arriving in the town of Glendora, where he lived the rest of his life.
Hal retired in the 1990s, then was hired as parish administrator at St Dorothy Catholic Church. He served in that role for 15 years, and even after leaving that post continued on another 6 years as advisor to the parish pastors. During that time he also belonged to the St Vincent DePaul Society and at the Los Angeles Newman Club. He and Gloria also served as volunteers at the Los Angeles Archdiocese Marriage Tribunal.
In 2005, he received the Benemerenti Medal by Pope Benedict XVI for his long service to the Church.
Throughout his life he continued his love of the outdoors, whether it was hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains, Sierras, and neighboring ranges, golfing with his in-laws and children, or simply gardening and watering his yard (“hydrotherapy” as Gloria put it). He also loved the cello; he and Gloria practiced chamber music nightly, and gathered with friends on a regular basis for quartets.
In 2008 he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, and, his health failing in stages, he passed away in May 2014.
He is survived by his wife, Gloria; his sons David and John; his grandchildren Joe, Robby, Sean, and Katherine; and his sister Carmen.
