Doyle Hill Obituary

Graveside services for Doyle Ray Hill, 86, of Nacogdoches, will be held at 11:00 AM, Tuesday, July 8, 2025, at Ramah Cemetery.

Mr. Hill passed away on Friday, July 4, 2025, in Nacogdoches, TX. He was born on June 24, 1939, in Paxton, TX.

In lieu of flowers the family requests those who wish to make a donation to the Nacogdoches Animal Shelter.

Doyle Ray Hill, of Nacogdoches, Tx. was born on June 24, 1939, in Paxton, Texas, and died July 4, 2025. He was born to Syble Clara Reeve and Willie Ivous Hill. He grew up in Paxton, Tx. until he met the love of his life Della Mae Chambers. They married in 1959 in Kountze, Texas, and settled in Houston where they raised their daughters, Pam and myself (Sandy). He worked for Southwestern Bell and AT&T in downtown Houston for the majority of his career, for which he was very proud and often reminisced of his days downtown.

If you knew my dad, you knew generosity, you knew laughter, and you knew someone that was never at a loss for words or stories. He could talk to anyone and never met a stranger and without fail...would embarrass you at any restaurant, by changing tables, at least once, maybe twice. It did not matter how good the table was, there was always a better one "just over there". Just recently in the hospital he asked the nurse to get him a new battery for the clock, and as soon as he got out of ICU this time he would not stop until the nurse found him an extra remote for TV.

Beyond the jokes and antics, you could always depend on him. If we needed anything, advice, help, money or just a laugh, daddy was there. He was a strong and steady role model in his grandson's life, filling that space with love, consistency, and real-world wisdom. What I was not always able to provide, he and my mother did, vacations, vehicles, gifts, etc. He provided only the very best for his family and rarely said "no" to a house full of women. Daddy looked out for us we could expect to hear, (often), "Your tires look low, have you checked the air?" or "You're not putting that cheap gas in your car are you, I wouldn't put that gas in my lawn mower". I told him not long ago how good he had been to us, expecting something sentimental back. Instead, I got "Yeah...too good".

Growing up, Mother and daddy never missed a ball game, no matter how far, how long the drive or how late we got home. They never missed a game or a tournament, not one. Rain or shine, in the bleachers or folding chairs, they showed up. Daddy was so proud of me and my sister's athletic abilities. However, we all secretly knew those athletic genes came from our mother, because we never saw Daddy play any sports. In fact, if we are being real, you could say he was a bad sport, if he ever won at cards or domino's, you were gonna hear about it!

Something many people didn't know about my dad is he liked to write; he was an author and a poet. He wrote several books of short stories and poetry. The first poem he ever wrote for me was sort of out of necessity. I was in first grade, and I told him I needed a poem that day, oh and it had to be about Christopher Columbus. He came up with this on the spot:

"There once was a young man from Spain,

who had dreams that were all the same,

dreams of a land far away,

he knew he must visit some day.

Dreams of a better land for us,

for these were the dreams of Christopher Columbus."

As I sit here now, I realize Daddy told a story all my life that parallels this poem. As soon as he graduated from Tenaha High School, he headed to

Houston in search of a better life. He was that young man with a dream, he made that dream a reality, not just for himself but for his family. Daddy showed up, stayed present and loved his family. He left us with memories, laughter, and stories that will be told around our tables for years to come.

He will be remembered not only as a loving Husband, Father and Grandfather, but as a storyteller, a dreamer, a poet and a man who made people laugh, even when he made them change tables. We will miss him so much every day.

He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Della Hill; daughters, Pamela Grace, and Sandy Jones; and grandson, Kasey Jones, all of Nacogdoches, Tx; brothers, Dale Hill of Joaquin, and Harold Walker of Deadwood; brother-in-law, Gary Acker, of Gary; and numerous nieces and nephews.

He was proceeded in death by his mother, Syble Walker; his father, Willie Hill; his sister, Kay Acker; and his niece, Lisa Kay.

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