C. Wayne Hill, 86, of North Platte, died May 12, 2013, at Centennial Park Retirement Village.
He was born on Dec. 11, 1926, in Tryon to A.C. and Helen Hill. The family moved to North Platte and then to Paxton, when Wayne was in junior high, and then back to North Platte. As a high school senior, he began working afternoons and Saturdays at the Telegraph on Feb. 18, 1944, under a special program initiated during the war years.
It wasn’t Wayne’s first printing job. He learned the trade working for the Kenneth Newcomb family at the Paxton Times, beginning when he was 13 or 14. After moving to North Platte in 1942, Wayne had worked at the O’Connor Five and Ten Cent Store and at the Ford garage before taking the Telegraph job. He began working full time after graduating from North Platte High School in the spring of 1944.
He left for the Army on Jan. 18, 1945, and served in Oklahoma, California, Saipan and Guam, reaching the rank of staff sergeant.
He returned to North Platte and the Telegraph in October of 1946, about the time the newspaper was being merged with the Daily Bulletin. The Telegraph is where he met his wife, the former Evelyn Jacobsen, who had come to work in the circulation department, where her brother, Roy, was circulation manager. They were married June 5, 1948.
When Wayne began working at the Telegraph, it was located at 116 W. Front St. He helped in the move to 315 E. Fifth St. in May 1948, and he helped in the move from that location to the newspaper’s present location at 621 N. Chestnut St. in February 1981. He saw newspaper production go from hot metal, raised-type printing to offset, from Linotypes to computer typesetting, from black and white and few pictures to liberal use of photographs and color. Wayne had put together more ads and been a part of more editions of the Telegraph than anyone working at the paper when he retired as advertising services supervisor Jan. 1, 1989, just a few weeks shy of 45 years after he started.
He was a member of the First Baptist Church and American Legion Post 163, where he had recently been honored as a 65-year member. He was an avid sports fan and a longtime follower of the Nebraska Cornhuskers and the St. Louis Cardinals. He helped coach his sons’ baseball teams and enjoyed bowling, camping, fishing and travel. He visited all 50 states, the last being North Dakota in 1998.
He was preceded in death by his wife, who died in December of 1989; four sisters, Carolyn, Gladys, Velma and Harriet; and one brother, Cecil.
Survivors include two sons, Gary (Marylee), of Lincoln, and Brian (Mary), of Overland Park, Kan.; two grandsons, Greg and Scott (Kenna), both of North Platte; one step-granddaughter, Kelsey Benz, of Overland Park, Kan.; five great-grandsons, Micheal, Cory, Casey, Tyler and Trevor, all of North Platte; many nieces and nephews; and special friend, Grace Wemple, of Gothenburg.
A memorial has been established. Online condolences may be shared at carpentermemorial.com.
Services will be at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 16, at Carpenter Memorial Chapel with the Dr. Rico Kotrous, pastor of New Life Ministries, of Lincoln, officiating. Burial will be at Fort McPherson National Cemetery. Visitation will be from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m., Wednesday, May 15, at Carpenter Memorial Chapel, which is in charge of arrangements.