Obituary of Robert T. Hilton

Robert T. “Bob” Hilton, age 78 of 602 Dearborn Street, Iowa City, died Thursday, January 12, 2006, at Mercy Hospital in Iowa City. A gathering of family and friends will be at 3pm Saturday, January 14th. with a time of reflections and sharing beginning at 4pm. At the Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service. In lieu of flowers, a memorial fund has been established in Bob’s memory. Bob was born September 10, 1927, in Mason City, IA, the son of Harold Fenne and Elsie Taylor Hilton. His father was a native of Beloit, WI, and a graduate of Beloit College; his mother grew up on a farm northeast of Whitewater, WI, was a graduate of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and had taught school for six years, the last two at Beloit’s Lincoln Junior High. After working for the Janesville, WI, Gazette and Milwaukee, WI, Journal, as a copy editor, Harold had taken a similar position with the Mason City Globe. A few months after Bob was born, his father joined the staff of his hometown newspaper, the Beloit Daily News, as its police reporter; he subsequently became its telegraph editor. Bob attended Burdge Elementary and Lincoln Junior High schools before graduating from Beloit Senior High in 1945. He was sports editor of the Lincoln Junior and the Beloit High Increscent student newspapers, co-editor of the Increscent his senior year. After receiving his bachelor of science degree in general history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1949, Bob spent a year as swing reporter for the Rockford, IL, Register, then returned to the UW-Madison for graduate study. On a grant from the Wisconsin Foundrymen’s Association, he researched and wrote Men of Metal: A History of the Foundry Industry in Wisconsin 1837-1951. Awarded a master of science degree in American history in 1952, Bob rejoined the Rockford Register staff as a sportswriter. In 1960, he became sports information director for Northern Illinois University. As a member of the Iowa State University public information staff 1963-68, he edited the alumni newsletter, wrote feature articles about ISU research in science and engineering, and conceived and produced the booklet Profiles of Iowa State University History. In February 1968 Bob accepted appointment to the newly created position of publications editor at the University of Iowa, with responsibility for production of publications providing information for prospective U of I students. These ranged from The Iowa Scene, a monthly newsletter Bob introduced as a vehicle for feature stories on U of I student life, to the university catalog. From 1983 until his retirement in November 1998, Bob was a sportswriter and sports copy editor for the Cedar Rapids, IA, Gazette, serving as the Gazette’s primary reporter for girls’ high school basketball and softball, Coe and Cornell College football, Coe softball, and, for the first four years of the C. Vivian Stringer era, University of Iowa women’s basketball. He covered 16 Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union state softball tournaments and a dozen IGHSAU state basketball tournaments. For six years he was a member of the IGHSAU Softball Hall of Fame selection committee. Bob and Beloit High School classmate Joan Lundt married in March 1949. Their children, Karen Louise and Robert Lund, were born in Beloit in 1951 and 1952, respectively, daughter Elizabeth in DeKalb, IL, in 1962. Daughter Karen died of pancreatic cancer in December 2000. Bob’s survivors include son Bob and Bob’s wife Chris, of St. Petersburg, FL, and their three sons, Scott, David and Stephen; daughter Liz DeArment, her husband Terry, and Liz's two daughters, Kali and Katie Fernandez, Littleton, CO; Karen’s sons Andrew and Matthew, both of Denver, CO, and Nathan Hall, suburban Columbus, OH; sister Janice Wolowicz and her husband, James, Manitowoc, WI; his nieces, Lita Appel of Monticello, WI, and Nena Kundert of Madison, WI; his nephews, Marshall Wolowicz of Kenton, OH, and Jay Wolowicz of Manitowoc, WI; and former wife, Joan Lundt Hilton of St. Petersburg, FL. Reading, especially Abraham Lincoln biographies and Civil War history; music (Dixieland, swing, bluegrass, folk and the classics); vegetable gardening and canning; human-interest writing; and restoring antique furniture were Bob’s special interests. He was also a lifelong tent-camper.