Curtis E. Hill Jr.

July 7, 1942 - October 20, 2023

Curtis E. Hill, Jr. was born July 7, 1942 in Dallas, Texas. He graduated from Highland Park High School in 1960 and came west with his sister and brother-in-law, Grace Hill Gentry and Richard E. Gentry, that summer. He attended UC Berkeley for his freshman year but his education was interrupted by an arterio-venous malformation in his brain from which he was not expected to recover, but he did. He then worked his way through junior college and obtained his B.A. and a teaching credential from San Francisco State.

Curt’s career was in early childhood education. He worked in the Children’s Centers Program of the San Francisco Unified School District for 30 years, including ten years in the central office assisting with administrative work during the early days of computerization, bracketed by two 10-year stints in classrooms. He retired in 2001 and enjoyed many years of model railroading and puttering around the house and yard in El Cerrito. Curt married his wife Barbara on August 3, 1969 at the home of his sister and brother-in-law in Kensington; they had been married 54 years at the time of his death.

Curt suffered a fall in November 2018 which incurred a traumatic brain injury and resulted in immediate loss of his short-term memory. This began a decline into dementia which eventually led to his death on October 20, 2023.

Curt was predeceased by his parents and his sister and brother-in-law. He is survived by their children, Richard and Mark Gentry and Laurel Counts and their families; his siblings Dorothy Sanders and Trey Pounds of Gilmer, Texas, along with cousins and extended family members in East Texas, Illinois, and elsewhere; and by his loving wife, Barbara.

Curt was interred at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito, and the ashes of his beloved sister and brother-in-law were buried with him. A memorial service was held in January 2024 at Northbrae Community Church in Berkeley. He is deeply missed.

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I can't remember a time in my life when Uncle Curt wasn't part of it. My first memory of him is when I was only 2 years old. He would sleep late and was difficult to rouse so mom would have Rich (4 yrs) and I jump up and down on the rattle-y heater vent right outside Uncle Curt's bedroom door, to make a din and wake him up. The part of the memory that remains is me, standing on the vent and peeking around the door jam to see if he was waking up, and he hadn't even moved yet, hadn't cracked an eye open! I wondered if we could make enough noise or not, but we bravely renewed our noisy efforts and eventually succeeded. One time, when I was 8, he was sitting on the sofa with mom reading his newspaper, and I was in the kitchen mixing cake batter with a handheld mixer. The cube of butter wouldn't go through so I pushed it toward the beaters with my thumb and my thumb got sucked right into the beaters! The thing I remember about Uncle Curt was, before I opened my mouth to yell out, before I even knew what was going on, he had already noticed something wrong. He threw his paper aside as he leapt up and was already running towards me before I even looked up for help. I remember being in his wedding, looking over their new house, and then helping him tier his new backyard, laying railroad ties to make the step levels. He was a good teacher. Not to mention, all the wonder of his train layouts! Loved to look at the amazing detail he put into those. Uncle Curt was always a humble, quiet man. You had to be with him to get to know him because he didn't talk about himself much, but he was always there. He was there for every Christmas and Thanksgiving, every recital, every birthday. Jim and I named our son after him and I was so pleased when, years later, Uncle Curt told me how much that meant to him. Now I've made myself cry. Uncle Curt, you were loved, appreciated, and are missed.

We send our love and healing thoughts to Curt's family, near & far; especially to Barbara, his devoted wife and their cats!

Uncle Curtis, as my children (51 and 50) call you, you are truly missed each day. Rest in Peace!

Please accept our deepest condolences for your family's loss.