Dorla Hill

Dorla Dean Hill, age 93, of Clarion passed away Tuesday, December 6th, 2022 at Thuesen Cottage Nursing Home in Cedar Falls.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, December 19, 2022 at 10:30 AM at First United Methodist Church, 201 3^rd Avenue North East in Clarion, with Pastor Lewis Flanigan.  Burial will take place at Evergreen Cemetery in Clarion.

Visitation will be held on Sunday, December 18, 2022 from 4:00 – 6:00 PM at Ewing Funeral Home, 1801 Central Avenue East in Clarion.

Dorla was born October 6, 1929, to Thelma (Brannon) and Louis Benson, who farmed east of Clarion in Wright County, Iowa. She had two brothers, James and Roger.

She graduated High School in Clarion, where she met Myron Hill, Jr. on a blind date with friends from school. They were married October 9, 1949.

The newlyweds moved to Arizona for Myron's health for a brief time. They returned to Iowa, starting farming and with help from his family, purchased a farm southeast of Clarion, where they raised their family. After Jr. died in 2016, Dorla moved to Cedar Falls to be close to her daughter Julie.

Dorla sewed clothes, hosted slumber parties, held 4H meetings for the girls among others things. Kids' music and other activities meant many trips to town--- all the while keeping the farm going and passing on priceless life skills to the family. She kept a huge garden in the summer and always had a freezer full of sweet corn.

The Grandchildren and Greats were Dorla's darlings. "Always welcome!" and "Whatever you do, have fun!" were often on her lips. Visits to the farm -- riding tractors, feeding birds, eating the creamed corn -- were highlights for all the cousins.

Always working side by side, Dorla and Jr made a good life of whatever came, as farmers will, and filled their years with hard work, good friends, close family ties, and travels when the care of crops and livestock would allow.

She was a longtime active member of the Methodist Church, with a strong faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Dorla had strong bonds with the members of the Utili Dulci Sunday School group and was active in Woman’s Circle group. She loved music, and even while battling Alzheimer’s she knew all the verses of any hymn that was sung at the nursing home!

As caretakers of the land, Dorla and Jr became very active in semi-retirement in organized efforts to regulate large-scale industrial livestock operations. As members of CCI in Des Moines they attended many meetings and traveled to Washington DC with the group to voice their concerns.

There are many from Clarion who will remember seeing them at the hospital or care center often as friends and family were aging, to visit folks and "give them a boost!", as Dorla would say.

Dorla is survived by her daughters Kay Crum, Willow Hill, and Julie (Paul) Glade; also by nine grandchildren, Jess (Lonn) Lease, Sienna (Rich) Shiga, Sarah (David) Stern, Amber (Jeremiah) Smith, Ryan (Elizabeth) Glade, Hayley (Alex) Egeland, Gwen (Alex) Mauroner, Caitlin (Tyler) Morris, Govinda Phalen; and 16 great grandchildren, Tristen, Gabe, Mya, Liam, Logan, Lydia, Emery, Ezra, Mira, Tanner, Ruston, Juniper, Cecilia, Osias, Oskar, and Ramona.

Dorla was preceded in death by her husband Myron Jr., by her sons Michael and Larry Hill, and by her parents Louis and Thelma Benson.

www.ewingfh.com

Ewing Funeral Home

1801 Central Avenue East

Clarion, Iowa 50525

515-532-2233