Darrell Gene Hill

DARRELL “GENE” HILL 06/27/43 – 10/17/23 Gene was born in Payson, Utah in 1943. He was born to Darrell B. and Evelyn Hill. Gene was the oldest of 6 children (Gene, Sherlyn, Jack, Brenda, Dick, and Lorene). He was preceded in death by his parents, Darrell and Evelyn, and his siblings Brenda, and Jack. He also lost his first son, Todd. In 1967 Gene was married to his wife of 56 years, Melinda Vetterli. After a stint in the army, Gene climbed the ladder at Skagg’s Drug Stores, and was soon managing his first store. After managing several stores in Utah and New Mexico, his family settled in Fort Collins, Colorado, where he would remain for the rest of his life. His first three children were born in Utah (Todd, Stacy, and Tyler). Dereck was born in New Mexico, and Shawn in Colorado. Both of his grandchildren were also born in Colorado (Kyla and Brendon). Gene always enjoyed the outdoor sports of hunting and fishing. He spent a considerable amount of time paddling back and forth along the shoreline in his belly boat, singing Statler Brothers songs, slightly out of tune. If you ever lost track of him all you had to do was listen for singing and follow the trail of sunflower seeds. You could also find him in Idaho toting his shotgun, with Dereck and Shawn, doing their best to control the dove population. Gene was an athlete in high school, and loved to watch his kids and grandkids play sports. He even coached the church basketball team and coached a lot of soccer from the sidelines. You could find him at an Eagles hockey game with Stacy ringing his cowbell, or out on the golf course with Ryan, Guy, Dick, Jack, John, Brendon or anyone else that wanted to play. Gene will be greatly missed, and his family each wanted to share a favorite memory or two… Melinda (wife)- It’s hard to sum up a life. So many memories and special times. Gene was a good man who loved his family and worked very hard to provide for them. We always had everything we needed and most everything that we wanted. He was very involved in his children's sports and activities. When he coached the boys church basketball team and they went to regionals, he was so proud of them. But what made him the most proud was the trophy they received for best sportsmanship. He tried to teach that. He coached soccer teams and line judged for each of the kids teams as well as for his grandson, Brendon, when he was playing soccer. He got to everyone's games as often as he could. We even timed our trips to Montana so we could attend whatever sports our grandkids were playing at the time. He always loved it when our children's friends would hang out at our house. He never seemed out of place when he joined right in with whatever they were doing. He enjoyed being around them. They were all treated like family which we felt they were. He could be so thoughtful, often when you least expected it. He was so happy that he got to travel to Florida for his granddaughter, Kyla’s wedding. He wasn't feeling well but he was not going to miss it even though his Dr. didn't feel it was a good idea. I'm so happy that he was able to have all of his children together the week before he died. It meant so much to both of us. He tried to please everyone and he was loved. I miss him so much and always will. Stacy (daughter)- Most of memories do not include the fishing and hunting like my brothers. One of my memories is my dad coming to soccer games that I would coach and always volunteering to be a line judge. He made it to as many of our events that he could make. Both him and my mom instilled in all of us kids a strong work ethic. I can’t think of a time that my dad missed work. He went in early and worked late when needed. Some of my favorite memories have come more as an adult. My dad and I had made a tradition to attend the military night at the Eagles hockey game together. He and my mom made great efforts to be at my family night games for work and I was excited to get to introduce my parents to the kids and families I work with. I will miss my phone calls where he would answer “Melinda’s answering service, let me get her phone to her.” I would have to talk really fast to get him to not pass the phone off when I was really calling to talk to him. I love him very much and am missing him greatly. Tyler (son)- I loved to fish and hunt with my dad. I think one of my favorite memories was when me, my dad, and Dereck went hunting one time. Dereck and I got turned around about where we were supposed to be. And when we got back to camp and figured out what had happened, I had never seen my dad laugh so hard. We fished a lot too. Our running joke was the disgusting meatloaf sandwiches that he would eat on the way home. Not sure that I ever smelled anything quite so offensive, and he would just laugh while I gagged. I will miss the hunting and fishing the most. Dereck (son)- My memories of my dad are like two stories. When I was young he was the money maker. He worked long hours to make sure we had all that we needed. He made it to as many of our sporting events as he could. I didn’t go fishing with him as much as I would have liked, but if he was going fishing on a day off, he was going early. I did go enough to fall in love with the outdoors. Camping, hunting and fishing to this day are what make me happy. It wasn’t until I was out of school that we became friends. I could finally get up early and we started hunting and fishing more often. I started hearing more stories from his past and got to know him as a person. Most of my best memories are hunting and fishing with him and my family and my friends. I can’t imagine how different that will feel now. I am glad for the time I had with him and I will miss him for the rest of my life. Shawn (son)- Some of my best memories of my dad are when he was around my friends. Anytime, whether fishing, hunting, or just hanging out and having dinner, he was always all smiles. He would dream of our adventures the night before and let us know before we left, how many birds he had already shot, or how many fish he caught, and where we needed to head to get them. (very rarely did it actually pan out) He also had a tremendous respect for our military. It took one time seeing him go out of his way to shake the hand of a man in uniform, that I understood what they meant to him. It will stick with me forever. I love him and he will be greatly missed. Kyla (grand-daughter)- I remember once as a child, grandpa and grandma had come to visit us in Montana. One day after grandpa and my dad had gone golfing, they came back with a surprise. Grandpa had brought me back a bunch of cute little frogs that had been overrunning the golf course. I was so excited - we gave them a new home in our kiddy pool and took care of them like little pets. Looking back, I’m sure he got a kick out of that. I’m so glad grandpa got to make it to my wedding last year. He welcomed Jake to the family so nicely. It meant a lot that we got to spend that time together and have a nice big family brunch together before they headed back home. Brendon (grand-son)- One of my favorite memories is when we were golfing and he kept struggling and was getting mad, so I looked at him and said, “I know what’s wrong grandpa and why you aren’t doing good”. He said “Why’s that?” I said “Because you’re standing on the wrong side of the ball!” (he golfed left handed) If you have any special memories of Gene that you are willing to share, we would love to hear them. Please feel free to leave them here.

Tributes

Darrell Gene Hill

June 27, 1943 - October 17, 2023