For this Alabaster woman, faith and family are the keys to good living.
By June Mathews
When Katie and Kenneth Hill moved to Alabaster with their preschool son in 1956, a sign proclaiming “Population 750” greeted them at the city limits. Incorporated a mere three years before, the city was still in its infancy. One of the first things the Hills did was look for a church. They had grown up Methodist, and their families had attended the same church in Hartselle, Alabama, all the young couple’s lives. So they were naturally drawn to Alabaster’s Central Methodist Church. But when the pastor asked if they were interested in joining, the Hills hesitated. Their parents were already unhappy about them moving away. Would moving their membership from the church that Katie’s great-grandparents had helped establish make matters worse? When they discussed their concerns with the pastor, he responded with a question of his own: “Did you bring your stove?” “Yes, sir, we did,” they replied. “Then,” he said, “you should bring your church membership.”
So, the Hills joined Central Methodist, now First United Methodist Church of Alabaster, marking the beginning of their involvement and investment in their new community. “We baptized three of our four children there, and two of them married there,” Hill says. “And when Kenneth passed in 2015, we had his funeral there. I still go to First Methodist and sit in the same pew my husband and I sat in during all our years together. I always leave a little space at the end of the pew for his spirit, because he visits with me every Sunday.”
Around 1961, the church played a role in keeping the Hills in Alabaster. As more babies arrived, their rented home had become crowded, and word got around that they were considering a move to the Green Springs area. Knowing that losing faithful young families like the Hills could be detrimental to the church, a fellow member offered them a lot adjacent to the future site of the Navajo Hills neighborhood at a price they could afford. “We built the house I still live in now,” says Hill. “We were here for 10 or 12 years before there was anything else around us, and we had to call at the post office window to get our mail. We still have the same post office box, number six, so we’ve never had a mailbox here.” These days, an app on her smartphone tells her when to pick up her mail.
Besides volunteering at church, Hill joined the PTA when her oldest son started school, and she remained active until her youngest graduated from middle school. But her real passion became providing a library for the Alabaster community. “There was no library when we moved here,” she says, “so another volunteer and I started a Thursday afternoon children’s story time in a real estate office.” As the group grew, they were offered space first in a meeting room then in the basement of a city building. “We had a nice library there, but when we outgrew it, we hired a librarian and moved across to the old Assembly of God church,” Hill says. “From there, we built the library we’re in now. I was part of the library board for 30 years.”
But even with her volunteer commitments, Hill, a mother of four, was a businesswoman, too. “I was a seamstress most of my life and, at one time, I had a shop down on Hwy. 119,” she says. “I sewed for majorettes and cheerleaders, made costumes, and patched uniforms for the baseball boys at Montevallo. I also made wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses.” Hill continues, “I sewed until 2000, when my first granddaughter got married. I had told her, ‘When you get married, I’m going to make your wedding dress then I’m going to retire,’ and that’s what I did. I still do alterations for family and friends, but I don’t do any major sewing anymore.”
Mr. Hill, a butcher, had previously retired, so once Mrs. Hill joined him, the couple frequently hit the road, living out their dream of seeing the country. “We traveled through every state in the union,” she says. “We’d traveled since our kids were babies, back when we couldn’t afford anything but a tent. So, our travels started in a tent and wound up in a big motorhome.” Some of those travels included family visits. In addition to her children, Hill has seven grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Some live close by, but some don’t, including a granddaughter in Alaska, a grandson in Arizona, two grandchildren in North Carolina, and another in Tennessee. “I have them scattered around everywhere,” she says.
Though Mrs. Hill, who turns 90 this year, doesn’t travel as much as she used to and limits her driving to church and the post office, she remains active in mind, body, and spirit. That becomes especially evident on fall Saturdays when four friends come to her house to watch Alabama football games and cheer for the Tide. “I live on my own, but I have somebody who cleans my house and somebody who does my yard,” she says. “I’ve been fortunate enough to be relatively healthy all my life, and I had a good marriage and good children. But I think my strong faith, support from my church, and having the Lord is why I’ve led such a blessed life, and I think that’s why I’ve lived this long.” And thanks to that longevity, Hill has attained a position for which few people ever qualify.
“I’m told that I am the oldest member of the church,” she says. “So I’m kind of the answer person whenever they need to know about anything way back.”