Our sympathy is extended to the family of Jane Hill

Jane Ann Hill passed from this mortal coil on June 23, 2023 at the great age of 80. She was a proud resident of Wetumka, but her circle included our dear Holdenville, Yeager, and Lamar as well. She is survived by her husband Wesley Hill who is well known in these parts. She is also survived by her very loud and gregarious children, Christy Sanders of Tulsa and Robert Sanders of St. Petersburg, Florida; Her sweet granddaughter Baylee Adams and even sweeter great granddaughter Sydney Adams of Orlando, Florida. She was predeceased by her younger brother James Duncan of Norman; she is survived by four sisters, Barbara Smith of Gulfport, Mississippi, Peggy Davis of Holdenville, Liz Duncan of Edmond, and Nancy Roche of Edmond, as well as many nieces and nephews.

Jane was born in 1943 in Washington DC to Harold and Luverne Duncan. She she was the oldest of 6 children. Her father Harold was an FBI agent and so the family moved frequently. Jane was fearless in her younger years, always ready for an adventure. She would include anyone (and some who were not so willing) in these escapades. She had an abiding love of horses from early in life; she and her younger sister Peggy would many times prowl the fields for the horses of unsuspecting neighbors to ride bareback and live the cowgirl lifestyle. Over her life, friends might come and go, but she always had horses that would be by her side, and she cared for them dearly. Her horses were well trained, well fed, and always beautifully brushed and shining. How many hundreds or thousands of miles did she spend on horseback in her life, trailriding at perhaps every state park Oklahoma has to offer? We’ll never know, but it probably wasn’t enough. That isn’t to say she wasn’t only about horses. She usually had at least one dog that was loved to the greatest extent. We remember Fraulein, the german shepherd who would only eat out of her hand, or Baxter, the basset hound who perhaps never moved on his own because she would move him around her house for him. Jane graduated from the University of Oklahoma and had her first career as a schoolteacher, teaching English to high schoolers. She never let any of us in her family use bad grammar, but other than that she was truly supportive of all of us and was always ready to laugh (and cry) with us. She always stood out; we remember her was the one in the family with fashionable red hair, coiffed, but after work she always wore practical clothes because she might be on a horse later. Later in life when her hair was white, she began wearing the most dazzling sparkly baseball caps covered in fake jewels. She loved turquoise and silver jewelry. Jane left teaching behind and worked at many places and in different fields, liking some jobs more than others. After retiring and moving to Hughes County, she joined the Holdenville Society of Painters and Sculptors. She had taken some painting classes before, but now she could really invest time in learning her new craft, especially taking lessons from the late Yvonne Huser. She won many prizes at our local art shows and made it to the Master Artist category. Her paintings are delightful and we are so grateful that she left us these works of art that are so beautiful, and have so much of herself in them. Because while it was very frustrating to her painting teachers, no one was going to make Jane paint something she didn’t want to.

Jane was one of a kind and she was absolutely beloved for it. We both found comfort in this quote together: “Some birds aren’t meant to be caged, their feathers are just too bright.”