Marilyn K. Hill, 83, longtime resident of Roubaix, Elk Creek and, more recently, Lead, died Monday, June 14, 2010 in Belle Fourche. A prayer and hymn service in her memory will be 10:30 a.m., Friday, July 16 at the Nemo Community Church, followed by inurnment of cremains in the Roubaix Cemetery.

Marilyn Kay Hill was born Dec. 8, 1926 at Stamford in Jackson County, the younger daughter of Davis M. and Ruth C. (Iwan) Highfill. While she was still an infant, her parents divorced and her mother married George Heaton. Although she wasn't legally adopted, Marilyn took on the Heaton name. She and her older sister attended school in Belvidere until the family moved in 1936 to Roubaix where George was hired as a carpenter at the Cloverleaf Mine. Marilyn completed grade school in Roubaix and attended high school in Deadwood, Roubaix and White River. During World War II, she worked briefly as a truck driver at the Black Hills Ordinance Depot in Igloo until she was caught out on her age. She then boarded with the Lovell family until she graduated from Igloo High School.

In the 1950's, Marilyn taught at the Harmony School in Mellette County and later was a taxi driver and kept house for her younger sister and brother while they attended school in Spearfish. She built up a small herd of cattle that she ran with her step-father. In 1958, she married Albert Hill, Sr., and Elk Creek area rancher, and, for the next 30 years, they ran cattle and sheep. In the year's following Albert's death in 1988, she retired to Lead and also lived in Pluma before failing health prompted her to move to the Golden Ridge Assisted Living facility in Lead in 2004. Since 2008, she was a resident of the Belle Fourche Regional Senior Care facility. Marilyn was a member of the Roubaix Union Sunday School until it disbanded in the 1990's.

Marilyn is survived by her son, Mark Hill and his partner, Jim Spears, Roubaix; two step-sons, Albert Hill, Jr., Iowa Hill, CA, and Mike (Sue) Hill, Elk Creek; a sister, Verna Benham, Kerrville, TX; a brother, Gary Heaton, Roubaix; three step-grandsons, Dannon Hill, Cartersville, GA, Andrew Hill, Auburn, CA, and Albert Hill, III, Gillette, WY; a step-granddaughter, Andrea Hill, La Mesa, CA; several step-great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews and cousins; and her very special friend and caregiver, Tracy Silvernail, Belle Fourche.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her older sister, Leslie Mae Hall, and a son, Todd Joseph Hill, who was stillborn in 1960.

Marilyn loved and honored our flag and her family has established a memorial for the erection of flagpoles at the Roubaix Cemetery, the Brownsville Fire Hall, and the Nemo Post Office. Additional memorial contributions will be donated to two of Marilyn's favorite charities, the Children's Heart Fund of the Samaritan's Purse, and the local chapter of the Salvation Army.

Marilyn's family is grateful for the kind and loving care she received from nurses, aides, and all staff of Golden Ridge Assisted Living in Lead, Belle Fourche Regional Senior Care, and the Lead-Deadwood Regional Hospital.