Submitted by

Vicki Ebert

Paul Carlton Hill

Paul Carlton Hill, retired speech pathologist and administrator of the Edwin A. Fair Mental Health Center in Ponca City, died Friday, Jan. 5, 2007, in Ponca City. He was 63.
Burial will take place at 9:30 a.m. Monday in Resthaven Memorial Park. A memorial service will follow at 10:30 a.m. in the sanctuary of First Christian Church with the Rev. Larry B. Metzger officiating. The family will greet friends at Trout Funeral Home from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday.
Paul Carlton Hill was born Nov. 14, 1943, in Marfa, Texas, son of Elsie Elizabeth Woolf and Eulis Harold Hill. The family moved frequently, following from state to state the career of Mr. Hill's minister father. While Mr. Hill enjoyed a childhood full of fresh faces every few years, for the remainder of his life, he set about planting the roots he had lacked as a boy. He lived contentedly in Ponca City for 39 years, but he always looked forward to what tomorrow might bring.
After graduation in 1961 from John Marshall High School in Oklahoma City, Mr. Hill completed rigorous bachelor's and master's degree programs at Phillips University in Enid. He was a recognized leader in the field of speech-language pathology, publishing two articles in professional journals and delivering a paper at the conference of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association in 1976. He was active in the Oklahoma branch of the association during his career, and trained many interns at the Edwin A. Fair Community Mental Health Center.
His 40-year career as a speech-language pathologist joined together his aptitude for spoken language with his gift for working with the disabled, resulting in a lifetime of clinical work so satisfying that he never truly considered a career other than patient care. The title of his first scholarly article, "Happiness is a Crowded Waiting Room," confirmed his genuine love for what he did. Mr. Hill continued to treat patients at Billings Fairchild Center throughout his final illness, finding deep satisfaction in the power of words and speech to heal and diagnose. He discovered grace and healing for himself in the ability of his patients to be creative — no matter how severe their disabilities.
Paul Hill met Harriet Susan Talbot of Oklahoma City while both were students at John Marshall High School, and they married while they were in college. The two found great joy in raising their son Greg. They traveled frequently with their family and treasured circle of friends. They took particular pride in finding unique, artistic remembrances of their trips abroad, and in creating a welcoming, lovely home that reflected the warmth of their love for each other.
Mr. Hill assumed positions in the leadership of First Christian Church, where he served the congregation as elder and board chair — most recently leading the church's largest-ever building expansion and renovation. His faith was deeply held and intensely private, and he held strong to his lifelong commitment to the work of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in our world.
With the confidence characteristic of a person of strong faith, Mr. Hill welcomed every day with a contagious, happy anticipation that infected all who knew him. His delighted grandchildren knew to expect a silly riddle from his inexhaustible supply every time they saw him. He could conjure a wickedly funny pun on the fly and deliver it with a deadpan face so droll that it took 10 minutes before his friends knew they'd been had. The joy he found in his life was evident in the eagerness with which he looked forward to trout fishing at the Hill family cabin in Colorado or a day of bird hunting with his buddies and his dog, Triple. To have known Paul was to have been blessed by his gentleness of spirit, his personal conviction that faith and good works are inseparable, and his gratitude to God for the inherent creativity in every human being.
Paul Carlton Hill was preceded in death by his beloved parents and brother-in-law, Joe Enochs.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Susan; son, Gregory Talbot Hill and his wife Kelsey of Parker, Colo., and their children, Trevor Linden Hill and Erin Lindsay Hill; sister, Barbara Enochs of Fort Worth, Texas, her daughter Beth Enochs and her husband Paul Tullis of Fort Worth, and their children Jeffrey Lee Tullis and Joseph Hill Tullis; brother, Keith Hill and his wife Mary of Lindale, Texas, and their sons Hal Hill and his wife Cammei of Friendswood, Texas, and his son, Joshua, and Hunter Hill and his wife Jessica of Pearland, Texas, and his daughter, Gabrielle; aunt, Ruth Marie Beverly of Pineville, La., and her daughter Willanne Whetzel; cousins, Philip, Helen and David Young; brother-in-law, David Talbot and his wife Glenda of Oklahoma City and their children Elise Fretwell and David Talbot III; a multitude of cherished, loving friends; and the patients whose lives he touched as he practiced the profession that he loved and the faith that gave him strength.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to the building fund at First Christian Church, 210 N. Fifth St., Ponca City, Okla. 74601.