Eugenia Hilbrink

HILBRINK, EUGENIA , age 94, formerly of Fairborn, passed away on December 19, 2022 in Palm Harbor, Florida. Born April 8, 1928, in Cleveland, Ohio, Eugenia was the first child and only daughter of N. Byrle Geer Colflesh and Donovan R. Colflesh.

Graduate of Cleveland Heights High School in 1946, she received a BA and a Phi Beta Kappa key from The College of Wooster in 1950. In 1983 she received a MS degree in Personnel Counseling from Wright State University.

She was preceded in death by her parents and her husband of 52 years, Bernard J. Hilbrink. She is survived by her sons David (Dorothy) and John, grandchildren Jennifer and Laura, and great granddaughter Eleanor.

Eugenia was employed by the Fairborn YMCA as its Girls’ Program Secretary in 1950; in 1953 by St. Mark’s Lutheran Church as its first Parish Worker. In the fall of 1972 she began a teaching career with the Fairborn City Schools in secondary mathematics, retiring in June 1994.

Her primary volunteer service was to her church and to the Greene County Domestic Violence Project – now known as the Family Violence Prevention Center. She was an active member and past president of the Fairborn branch of the American Association of University Women from 1954 to its disbandment in 1999.

While the importance of a strong and loving family was central to Eugenia’s priorities, her community contributions were honored by the Greene County Women’s Hall of Fame when she was inducted in 1987. In 1983 she was recognized for volunteer service with the Leonard P. Roberts award given through the United Way of Montgomery-Greene Co. The Fairborn Ministerial Association recognized Eugenia and her husband with its Peace Award, and her congregation, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, named Eugenia and Bernard as Lay Persons of the Year in 1998 for their Sesquicentennial History of the congregation and for other contributions to that important event.

Family will receive friends on Tuesday January 3, 2023 from 5pm to 7pm at the Burcham Tobias Funeral Home, 119 E. Main St., Fairborn, Ohio. A Funeral Service will be on Wednesday January 4th at 1:00 pm. at St. Mark's Church. Pastor John Place will officiate. Burial will follow at Byron Cemetery, Fairborn.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.BurchamTobiasfuneralhome.com for the Hilbrink family.