May Hill (Morton) YHS 1929 by Graeme Kitney: May passed away at her daughter’s home, in Canberra, on 27 February 2008. She will be greatly missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.
May was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne UK on 25 May 1917 and at four years old, migrated to Australia with her parents, Alec and Minnie and brother, Bob. They settled originally in Ipswich before moving to Yallourn.
May left YHS at 15 and transferred to the Tech to study bookkeeping and on the completion of her course, was employed as a bookkeeper at the Yallourn General Store.
In the late 30s, May met Frank Hill at a dance in Yallourn, before war was declared Frank joined the RAN for a 12 year term and while in Edinburgh bought May’s wedding ring. Frank and May were married at St John’s in Yallourn on 29 March 1941 and shortly after, May moved to Sydney to live, as Frank’s ship was based at Garden Island.
While serving at Cerberus, the family lived at Crib Point, later moving to Frankston. Their daughter, Judith, was born in 1944 at Frankston and son, David, in 1945 at Yallourn.
David died in the mid 80s and Frank around two years after David. May continued to live in Frankston but found it increasingly difficult to get around as she never fully recovered after fracturing her hip. In October 2006, May moved to Canberra to live with her daughter.
May is survived by her daughter Judith and her family, which include three of May’s grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Her other grand daughter, David’s daughter Jenny, was born in the US and has lived there most of her life but has visited May several times.
My first recollection of May was in 1942, when we stayed with her. This was shortly before my fifth birthday, when my mother and I went “border hopping” to travel to Sydney illegally, to see my father who was there to do an Army Training Course. However, it is obvious that I had met May before this time as she often told her friends “she knew me before I was born”.
May remained a life long friend of our family and we shared many great times together, she never lost her enthusiasm for life and even after her accident, still enjoyed being picked up to go to the pub for lunch and a beer.