Eileen Mae Hill

Eileen Mae Hill, 93, passed away on June 25, 2026 at the Woodview Skilled Nursing building at Bethany Village in Dayton, Ohio with three of her children there with her holding her hands and her daughter in law, Kathy Hill, playing beautiful hymns on her violin over the phone from North Carolina. The last five or six years of her life, she was happy to live near her son, Paul Hill (wife Karen Hill), who still resides just outside Dayton and who visited her often, giving her many smiles.

Born Feb 6, 1933 to Gladys Theresa and Francis Leroy Sohn, in her beloved Muscatine, Iowa, Eileen lived most of her life in either Muscatine or Davenport, Iowa, with the exception of a time in Chicago, Illinois at the beginning of her adult life and then a year and a half in McAlester with her daughter, Martha Leeper (David Leeper) where she enjoyed going to the senior activity center nearby, watching deer in Martha’s back yard, doing all kinds of fun exercises with Martha, and snuggling with Peanut, their dog. Eileen is survived by her three brothers, Leland Sohn (Diane Sohn)of Muscatine, Arnold Sohn (Judy Sohn)of Prairie City, Iowa, and Harold Sohn (Ardyth Sohn)of LaFayette, Colorado. Carol Thompson, her sister of the heart, passed just a couple of months before Eileen. She remembered being Carol’s “scullery maid,” an inside ironic joke they had which she remembered to the end. She is also survived by three other children, Ed Hill (Kathy Hill), Grace Hill (Harvey Stern), and Joeleah Tighe (Tom Tighe). She enjoyed visiting her grandchildren, Leah Hill, Ann Marie Hill, David Hill, Joseph Lord, Lyndsay Lord, John Tighe, and Brian Tighe through the years. She also had four great grandchildren, Tommy Lord, Charlie Lord, London Greer, and Nathan Hill.

Our mom loved her work as an RN, and she continued with it until age 81. Nursing was a calling for her, and she believed all people should be treated with respect no matter what condition they were in. She led by example and ended her time at Good Samaritan Nursing Center in Davenport, Iowa as the nurse who worked there the longest of anybody ever.

Eileen liked to venture out from Iowa as often as she could, traveling to Israel, Germany, Scotland, the Netherlands, Colombia, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, France, Canada, and all the states in the US except for Hawaii. In her late 70’s or early 80’s she once drove by herself all the way to Prince Edward Island just because she wanted to. At the beginning of her adult life, she had wanted to be a missionary nurse in Africa.

Going to different art museums to look at realistic art, such as Rembrandt fed her spirit. She also was an avid reader of the Bible, various Russian novels, and poetry that rhymed such as James Russell Lowell’s “What is so Rare as a Day in June?” Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Village Smithy,” and Joyce Kilmer’s “I think that I shall never see a poem lovely as a tree,” to name a few of her favorites, and Ogden Nash limericks — She told Grace and Joeleah right to her last weeks that if they were called by a panther, don’t anther.

Our wonderful mother will be deeply missed by her children and anybody who knew her well. She used to tell us, “Just do your best” when we came to her with various problems through our lives. She did her best and it was so much more than enough.

Visitation is at Runge Funeral Home in Davenport on Friday, July 10, from 6-8 pm. Celebration of Life at Grandview Baptist Church 4613 N Ripley St, Davenport on Saturday on July 11 at noon with reception immediately afterwards at the church. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago.