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There are several things about Rolly Hill that stand out in the minds of those who knew him. He was a lot of fun; he was very friendly, carefree and happy; and he lived and enjoyed life day by day. One of the key things about him though, may be that everyone seemed to know him!

He was born on March 17th, 1902, and was raised in Deep Creek, B.C., a community just northwest of Enderby. He married Sara Malpass in 1923 and moved to Enderby. Here he brought up his three children: Sarah Margaret, Gordon, and Alberna.

He had a number of occupations and hobbies. He operated a butcher shop on Cliff Street. He would take his Maple Leaf truck and hunt wildlife for this shop. In order to help preserve the meat, he would put pepper all over it, so when it would finally arrive at the shop, the meat would be covered in pepper and hair.

During World War II, he was stationed in Eastern Canada in the Ordinance Corps as a truck driver. Rolly worked for Harry Danforth at one point, and was supposed to have always mixed up the tools in the shop. He was the Enderby Fire Chief for a while;   he corded wood and hauled logs and poles; and later he jointly owned a sawmill with his son.

Rolly was one of the first truck loggers, and he hauled with Alvin Woods. In order to get their trucks going, they would build a fire under Woods' truck until the truck was running. Then they would start Rolly's truck and head down to Grindrod for the day. They would haul the logs and poles on a sleigh behind the truck, and to make things more challenging there were no brakes on the trucks! One side of Alvin Woods' truck didn't have a door, and you could always tell which direction he was going by looking at which side of the road the cigarette butts were on.

Rolly loved to sing. He would sing at all the dances, and often put on amateur shows for the community. He was also said to be the friendliest drinker around town.

Rolly was an outdoors man, and he did a lot of fishing. He would supposedly pound on the boat motor to get it going, and more than once threw his fishing tackle into the lake because he hadn't caught anything. One time when he was fishing with some friends at Sicamous, he had left the boat for something; when he came back, he saw all of his and his friends' gear floating in the lake. The boat had sunk because he had forgotten to put the plug in it.

Rolly died in a car accident on June 28th, 1963, when a car thief lost control of a stolen car and hit Rolly. The accident occurred halfway between Armstrong and Enderby during a police chase.

There are many stories about Rolly Hill. His daughter, Margaret, remembers mother always having to wash Rolly's face for him after he'd been working with the machinery and was all covered in grease. But he is best remembered by his "light-hearted gaities at parties", his wonderful singing voice and solos, and his kindness and wilingess to help others.

Tracy Merfert, Heidi Chayba, Chris Fincaryk
ALF School 1989