FAMILY and friends have farewelled Ronald John Hill, one of Orange’s most noted educators and youngest-serving mayors, after he passed away on August 27.
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Known as John, Mr Hill was born in Hunters Hill on June 26, 1930 and was the third of eight children born to Margaret and Ronald Hill.
When he was four years old, the family moved to Queanbeyan and he started school at the Good Samaritans Convent.
He completed his final years of schooling at St Gregory’s Campbelltown before progressing to Armidale Teachers College where he trained to be an agricultural science teacher.
It was there he met Mary Wake, who he eventually married before the couple moved to Orange.
They went on to have seven children: Chris, Marie Therese, Patrick, Paul, Jo-Anne, Gerard and Andrew.
With his wife’s help putting together programs and reports, Mr Hill rose quickly to the position of principal, his final posting in Orange being to Calare Public School.
He also followed his interest in politics, becoming involved in Orange City Council, first as a concerned ratepayer, then alderman.
In 1963, he was elected mayor at the age of 32 and served in the role for five years.
In 1972, the family moved to Riverstone where Mr Hill took up the position of principal at the level one school, Riverstone Primary.
Noticing how far behind many of the students were, he started his work on disadvantaged education and became one of the earliest educators to realise the importance of early intervention.
He was responsible for setting up a pre-school to catch children up before they started kindergarten.
The Department of Education soon realised the importance of early intervention and asked him to roll out his program statewide, where he also identified needy schools and distributed grants to combat disadvantage under the Whitlam government.
He went on to become an inspector of education for Metwest, but later decided he preferred being in a school and moved to Baulkham Hills North as principal.
He took early retirement a few years later due to his hearing loss and took up his hobby of woodwork with a vengeance and tables were his speciality.
Mr and Mrs Hill then moved to Oakdale where they lived on a 25-acre farm.
They also bought a caravan and spent many happy years travelling Australia as grey nomads.
When the farm became too much for them, they moved to the Central Coast where they found themselves part of a loving community.
However, their lives have also been touched by sadness, having to bury two of their sons – Paul suffered from schizophrenia and died at just 26, while Chris died at 48 from melanoma.
Current mayor Reg Kidd paid tribute to Mr Hill, saying his commitment to the community was obvious.
“You can see that by his dedication to education,” he said.
“He was a school teacher and served council well.”
Cr Kidd said Mr Hill was passionate about promoting the growth of Orange.
“He was great supporter of the Amoco Hall and Wentworth Golf Club, both largely built by volunteer labour,” he said.
“He opened both.”
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