East Texan Who Was Second-Oldest WWII Vet Dies at 109

HENDERSON — An East Texas man who devoted his life to teaching and sharing tales from the classroom and the battlefield was buried Thursday after dying last week at age 109. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report Elmer Everett “E.E.” Hill was the second-oldest World War II veteran when he was honored by more than 100 friends during a 2014 ceremony in his hometown of Henderson. “Elmer Hill was an inspiration to me and so many others,” U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Longview, wrote of the late educator Wednesday. “East Texas would be a darker place today without him if he had not illuminated so many lights that would follow behind him.”

Graduating from Henderson Colored High School in 1927, Hill bookended wartime service in the U.S. Navy with stints as principal of his alma mater. Henderson ISD trustees renamed the campus E.E. Hill High School in 1965. He died Sept. 16 at East Texas Medical Center of Henderson after living his last years in Brookdale Henderson senior living facility. “He just went to sleep,” Brookdale Executive Director Christy Brown said Wednesday. “It was an honor to serve him. Whatever we’ve done for him is nothing in comparison with what he’s done in his life.”

Brown said Hill was a magnetic character who attracted a succession of visitors to his side. “Everybody that he met was a friend,” she said. “Everybody knew him. They would come and visit every day, all day. He was just such a pillar of the community, just a really good-hearted person. He was really meek and mild and soft-spoken.” Hill was generous with his memories, she said. “He was a good storyteller,” Brown said. “He talked from his heart. He had such a vivid memory in him.”