Submitted by: Dan Rich
Brother Richard Louis Hillis, CSC
July 11, 1936 - Sept. 8, 2007
South Bend Tribune 9/10/2007
SOUTH BEND - Brother Richard Louis Hillis, CSC, 71, died in St.
Joseph Mercy Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI, on September 8, of injuries
sustained in a bicycle accident. Br. Richard was born in Grand
Rapids, MI, on July 11, 1936, the son of Louis and Josephine
(Goense) Hillis, and it was in that city he received his grade
and high school education. He graduated from Catholic Central
High School in 1955, having participated in several activities,
including the National Guard. He engaged during his high school
years in sales and construction work for the Grand Rapids Press,
the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., and Taylor Builders of
Rockford, MI. In September 1955 Br. Richard joined the Brothers
of Holy Cross, receiving their habit and beginning the novitiate
year in January 1956, then pronouncing his first vows in January
1957. In August 1961, he committed himself through perpetual vows
to lifelong membership as a brother in Holy Cross. Completing his
novitiate, Br. Richard spent the next four years as a cook in
community houses in Watertown, WI, Rolling Prairie, IN, and
Columba Hall, Notre Dame, IN. From 1962 to 1964, he worked in the
post office at Notre Dame, then transferred to grounds care at
Gilmour Academy, the brothers' secondary boarding prep school
located in Gates Mills, OH, on Cleveland's east side. Br. Richard
took advantage of the benefits of a religious renewal program at
Notre Dame from 1987-88, following which he spent the next eight
years doing general maintenance work at he Holy Cross Brothers
Center, Notre Dame.
From 1996 to 98 he was director of
housekeeping at the brother's infirmary, Dujarie House, and
assisted living program, Schubert Villa, both facilities at Holy
Cross Village, Notre Dame. He was asked to take on a significant
role in the Boysville of Michigan youth treatment program (now
known as Holy Cross Children's Services, Clinton, MI), living at
the Macon campus of Boysville but commuting daily some 60 miles
into Detroit to a branch of the school's overall program. That
commute was symbolic of Br. Richard's loyalty and personal
dedication of his abilities and strength to whatever services he
was engaged in, whether in a kitchen or a counseling situation.
Day in, day out, summer and winter in Southeastern Michigan's
uncertain weather and road conditions, Br. Richard made the
60-mile trip to Detroit to perform the functions, both
administrative and personal, for the youth to whom he ministered.
To those with whom he worked, the word "dependable"
seems to describe him most accurately, a word that encompasses
all the nuances attached to the quality, including unusual
patience and preserving under difficult circumstances. If Br.
Richard was not a classroom teacher as were many of his
confreres, he was nevertheless a master educator in life through
his unfailingly excellent example. He enjoyed swimming and had
earned a master Life Saver certificate in 1965. He and other
associates had formed an informal swimming club in nearby
Tecumseh, MI, a physical exercise opportunity and gathering that
fairly regularly spilled over into the pleasant social ambience
of nearby restaurants. The very sport that in the end took his
life was one of his favorite physical activities. His smile, his
dependability, his sacrificial presence despite distance and
conditions will be missed, but will remain in the memories of his
brothers in Holy Cross, as well as his co-workers at Holy Cross
Children's Services. What is more, these characteristics will fix
themselves even more in their hearts, clearly influencing their
own service to others.
Visitation will begin at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday,
September 11 in Our Lady of Holy Cross chapel, Schubert Villa,
the brother's Holy Cross Village at Notre Dame, 54515 St. Road,
933 North. A wake service will be held in that chapel at 11:15
a.m. Later that day, Tuesday the 11th, viewing will begin at 2
p.m. in St. Joseph's Chapel in the Holy Cross Village. The Mass
of Christian Burial will follow at 3 p.m. with interment
immediately afterward in St. Joseph's Cemetery on the village
grounds.