Susan J. Hilt

Susan Jean Hilt of Fort Collins passed away on April 4, 2019 at the age of 72. She was born in Waterloo, Iowa on October 6, 1946 to Fred and Oda Christensen. Her father’s grandparents immigrated from Denmark and her mother was born in Tarm, Denmark and immigrated at the age of 6. She graduated from Waterloo East High School in 1964. She attended State College of Iowa (UNI) in Cedar Falls, for one and a half years. Her father was a WWII veteran in the Army. She lived on the outskirts of Waterloo where she grew up with a pony stabled down the street. She was more interested in horses than guys. She worked part time at a horse training facility. Her carrier started by working for the local telephone company at a switch board with lines plugged in for the connection they needed. Her father was a contractor, building several churches in town. Her relative, who was on the church council at St. Ansgar Lutheran Church, convinced the assistant pastor that he should ask her out which he did. A month later, he asked her out again and a romance began and a year later, October 4, 1969, she married Pastor Kenneth Hilt. His next parish took them to Faith Lutheran Church in Marcus, Iowa. There she convinced Ken’s Dad to bring a horse from their farm to Marcus, which stayed at one of the parishioner’s farm near town. She rode until her pregnancy did not allow it. Then she watched Ken ride and took care of the horse. Her first son, James, was born July 10, 1972. Ken became frustrated trying to come up with new ideas each week for a meaningful sermon and dealing with parishioners’ problems, so decided the ministry was not for him. So in 1973 they moved to Fort Collins at the encouragement of Ken’s Uncle and Aunt, (Allan and Luella Oberg) who lived in Fort Collins. Susan gave birth to their 2nd son, Brian on April 28, 1974. They bought a house at 3933 S. Taft Hill Rd. with 5 acres and Susan convinced Ken to build a garage/barn combination, double car garage, two stalls and hay storage above it all. Next came a horse and the need to pay for it, Susan went back to work for the telephone company. They moved from the 5 acres to a property with 10 acres and a large barn on it for more horses. Then in 1978 they purchased a property with 35 acres, 3 stall barn and two houses on it. They lived in one of the houses and had a new house build on it and moved in right after their daughter, Julie was born February 9, 1982. They have lived there ever since. Susan’s career at the Telephone company lasted 30 years, she retired in 2003. Due to the company closing offices, combining services, etc., she had to move around, working in Fort Collins, Loveland, Boulder and Greeley. On the new property, at different times we raised horses, cattle, hogs, goats, milk cows, and chickens. Most were for the kids 4-H projects. Eventually, everything was given up except for horses and beef cattle. Susan was great at treating animals, wanting to be a vet at one time. Susan had Julie riding a pony at a very young age. When Julie was 4 years old, Susan made her pick a big horse and she chose Appaloosa. When old enough to be in 4-H, Julie was competing in horse shows with strong encouragement from her mother. As she got older, Susan took Julie to Appaloosa Breed shows at Billings, MT, Grand Island, NE, Longmont and Greeley. Susan loved working with horses and loved watching Julie compete. Then when Julie was in High School, we lost two of the favorite horses about 2 years apart. We built a steel building with an indoor arena and stalls, which really made horse care easier. A must, Susan said. Susan’s son James and wife Kimberly moved to Denmark for work several years ago. Susan and Ken went twice to visit them. Susan got to see the town her mother was born in and some other relatives still living in Denmark. After retirement, Susan began working part time for Global Spectrum at the Budweiser Event Center, ushering and working the greeter in the mornings at the front door and ticket taker at the east door. She began working there when the doors opened in 2003, putting in over 15 years before having to quit because of her Pancreatic cancer. She also worked at CSU ushering for Landmark. Susan was active in Shepherd of the Hills reading club, Bible study and circle. She was also active in the retired Phone Company Pioneers. She was an active 4-H leader and county fair assistant. Three years ago, Susan bought a mare in foal. The mare foaled early while she was on vacation, so Julie and Brian had to rush them to the vet hospital or it would have died. Since then it has become a special horse for Susan. He is now 3 years old and in special training in a stable south of Loveland. The day Susan died, we took her down to see him. She watched him being ridden, fed him carrots and petted him. When we got home, she laid down and went to sleep, just the way she wanted to go. She kept telling us, she was going to be with her mother. Susan is survived by her husband, Kenneth (they would have celebrated 50 years in October); sons, James Hilt (Kimberly) of Lakeview, MN, and Brian Hilt of Fort Collins, and Julie Hilt of Fort Collins, a brother, Gary Christensen (Susan) of Mesa, AZ and a sister, Judy Allen (Tom) of Waterloo, IA. Susan preferred plants to flowers, since flowers don’t last told me. Memorials can go to the Cancer society for the research of pancreatic cancer.

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Susan J. Hilt

October 6, 1946 - April 4, 2019