Kirk Rabb Hill

Kirk Rabb Hill was born May 19, 1945, and passed from this life November 3, 2024. He was preceded in death by his parents, Eugene Hill and Audrey Rabb Hill, his brother and sister-in-law, Gene and Marian Hill, and his stepson Eric Floyd.

He is survived by his family whom he loved with all his heart, his wife Rita Brewer Hill, his sons and son-in-law, Aaron Hill (David) and Justin Hill, his stepchildren and their spouses, Lina Floyd-Smith (Keith), Amy Floyd, Ray Floyd (Meredith), and James David Floyd (Christie). He was beloved “Papa Kirk” to his grandchildren, Molly Dunn (Ryan), Ben Kelso, Ethan Terrell, Hannah Terrell, Natalie Terrell, Ely Terrell, Caleb Terrell, Lydia Terrell, Anna Floyd King (Levi), Emma Floyd, Maggie Floyd, Audrey Floyd, Amber Floyd, David Floyd, Malachi Ward, and Emory Ward. Kirk was excited about the coming arrival of two great grandchildren in the next few months. He is also survived by his nephew Brock Hill (Christie) and great niece Avery and his niece Elizabeth Yuille (Todd) and great nephews Walker and Nolen. He is also survived by a host of nieces and nephews, mother-in-law, and sisters-in-law from Rita’s family who love him.

Kirk grew up in Cleveland, MS, and attended Cleveland High School. He has stayed in touch with so many of those Cleveland friends and has attended many of his High School Class of 1964 reunions. He served in the United States Air Force from 1967-1971, including a tour of duty in Vietnam from 1969-1970.

Kirk attended Delta State University where he earned a Master’s Degree in Chemistry and Biology. Kirk taught Chemistry and Biology in Simpson County at Pinola, West Union, and Mendenhall High Schools for 27 years and saw and heard from many of his former students frequently. He was a favorite teacher for many students because of his enthusiasm for so many things, his ways of explaining his lessons so all could understand them, and the respect he gave each student and the kindness he always showed. He helped the students at Mendenhall start a news program that was broadcast in the school each day and he is also known for building nature trails with the students during his early teaching years. He loved to assign projects for the students to use their creativity.

He also encouraged creativity and learning in his family members. When his sons were young, he gave them a video camera to experiment with and his son Justin later went to film school and is now a videographer and producer. His son Aaron has taught statistics in The New School in New York and in later years has become quite an accomplished potter, another area of great interest to Kirk dating from his ceramics class back at Delta State. When the grandchildren were younger, Kirk delighted in planning activities and building things for them for the big family visit at Thanksgiving, from rubber band guns and ziplines to go-carts to race down the hill in the yard.

Kirk had many interests over his life. He enjoyed camping and spent many memorable times camping with his sons as they were growing up. He introduced Rita to camping in tents and campers and he built his own teardrop camper to take on the men’s camping trip in Arkansas with the Men’s Group from St. Philip’s.

In earlier years, Kirk got his pilot’s license and loved flying, a love he shared with his son Aaron and son-in-law David, who are also pilots. Kirk loved nature and was fascinated to learn more all the time about plants and animals. Family members often sent him photos of “nature finds” they had come across for him to identify and discuss with them. He kept a table on the porch with interesting things he had found for the grandchildren to see. His latest hobby with plants was growing pitcher plants and several kinds of night-blooming cereus. He found out later in life that he was definitely a “cat person” when he acquired his now 16 year old cat Abigail and then rescued a feral cat near his shop that he named T Cake. T Cake’s story as his shop cat was told by Kirk day by day on Facebook and she has many fans!

Kirk is most well known for his lifelong hobby of restoring Model T Ford vehicles. He was always ready to help his friends who had Model T’s and loved to take what he called “basket cases” and restore them to life as working cars, all correct for their time. He loved to take short and long trips in his Model T’s and was known for planning rallies and participating in tours. His favorite trips were rides and camping trips on the Natchez Trace.

In 1986, he and a friend, Randy Harding, drove Randy’s 1913 Model T Touring Car to California to participate in The Great Race. He and Randy completed the Race from California to New York with no support team and just the tools they could carry in the car. The car was then driven home to Mississippi. An account of their journey on the race was published by Reader’s Digest in their July 1987 issue. Kirk and Randy later drove an antique truck for Goodyear in a couple of future races.

After meeting Rita, Kirk added another item to his bucket list, another entry into The Great Race with Rita as his navigator. That dream was fulfilled in 2013 when the Race started in St. Paul, MN, and went down the Mississippi River to Mobile, Alabama. They drove a 1920 Model T Race Car built by Kirk. The couple had a very memorable trip and finished about halfway down the list of total times among about 100 antique cars, a record they were very pleased about with a Model T car. In 2019, they participated in the Ocean to Ocean Tour, a reenactment of the first trip by a Model T Ford all the way across the continent in 1909. They traveled from New York to Seattle and had a wonderful time.

Kirk has been a member and attended St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Jackson since 2002. He served as a Vestry member and as a Vacation Bible School helper and was in the Men’s Breakfast Group and Camping Group. He was known there too as a friend and encourager of others and especially loved the choir and the music of St. Philip’s. He was in his fourth and final year of Education for Ministry, a program of study of the Bible, church history, and theology along with much discussion and reflection. Kirk attributed so much of his spiritual growth to the amazing natural world that showed him the hand of the Creator and to the ministries and loving community of St. Philip’s.

One of Kirk’s granddaughters said she imagined the moment that Papa Kirk slipped through the veil, accompanied by an angel and maybe his parents or brother or stepson Eric or his buddy the Rev. Bruns Myers, and the first thing he would have said was, “Damn, y’all! This is just AMAZING!” We all agree with that and the second thing he would have said would have been, “I can’t wait for Rita to see this!”

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to The Cassidy Music Fund at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, 5400 Old Canton Road, Jackson, MS 39211.