Debra Hill

DEBRA HILL

Marshalltown

Debra Sue (Emken) Hill, 57, of Marshalltown, passed away on Thursday, June 18, 2015, at the Iowa River Hospice Home in Marshalltown, Iowa.

A public visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 23, from 4 to 7 p.m. at Mitchell Family Funeral Home in Marshalltown. The funeral will be held Wednesday, June 24, at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist Church with burial services following at Riverside Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to the family. Mitchell Family Funeral Home is caring for Debbie and her family in this time.

Debra S. Hill was born on April 4, 1958, in Albuquerque, N.M., to Marvin and Waunita Emken.

She spent time playing with her brother, Steve, and was active in her school activities and sports. She was a volunteer for the Big Brothers Big Sisters program and was active in volunteering around her community. Debra attended and graduated from Jefferson High School in 1976 and went on to the University of Northern Iowa to pursue her dream of helping others as a recreation therapist in 1980.

Soon after, she accepted a position with the state at the Iowa Veterans Home, a place that came to be her second home. She made lifelong friendships with everyone she encountered there, and there wasn't a person there whose day wasn't brighter when she was around.

In 1988, she married her best friend, Raymond Hill of Des Moines, in Cedar Rapids. The pair shared in many memories of trips, holidays and daily life that will continue to give her family strength as they hold onto the moments they have. They had two daughters, Kinsey and Kaitlyn, and a house full of pets that kept her busy. She loved rubber ducks and racing. She enjoyed watching her daughters and Ray race.

In 2014, Debbie was diagnosed with leukemia and almost immediately underwent a bone marrow transplant on Christmas Eve of 2014. She was officially cancer-free at the time of her passing. Debra loved to travel on family vacations and was able to go on a few last tropical trips before her diagnosis. She will continue to be with her family as they continue on with life as a guardian angel that will never leave their side. She had a true love for everyone she met and treated everyone with the utmost respect and dignity. She will be remembered as the bright, kind, warm-hearted and brilliant person we all knew and loved. In her name, perform a random act of kindness.

She always put others first, and it would warm her heart to know that we are continuing on in the exact spirit she would have wished for us.

Preceding her in her passing was her father, Marvin.

She is survived by her husband, Ray; daughters, Kinsey and Kaitlyn; her mother, Waunita; and her three brothers, Steve, Ryan and Ross.