• Date Of Birth: February 8, 1907
  • Date Of Death: October 23, 2007
  • State: Michigan

Marie Justus Hills, the oldest child of Mary (nee: Schneider), a German immigrant mother and Bert Justus, son of a prominent Stockton, Illinois family, died peacefully at the home of her daughter and son-in-law in Three Oaks, Michigan on October 23, 2007.

For over 40 years, she was an employee of Illinois Bell, where she supervised the telephone operators on the Northside of Chicago as Manager of the Sunnyside Office. Later she was the Chief Operator at the Evanston Office of Illinois Bell, retiring in 1966.

Marie was 100 years old. She was born on February 8, 1907 in Chicago and was baptized into the Christian faith at St. Attracta Parish in Cicero, Illinois. In 1930 she married Bert Christian Bertelsen after a whirlwind romance. They were the parents of two daughters, Mary Ellen (1931 – 1997) and Carole Beyer Svebakken. In 1970 she married Reginald K. Hills. They retired to Laguna Beach, California and later Mountain Home, Arkansas. Upon the death of Reginald, she relocated to Racine, Wisconsin to live with her daughter, Mary Ellen, until Mary Ellen’s death in 1997. She then moved to Three Oaks, Michigan and lived with her daughter Carole and husband for the past several years.Marie was known for her gracious dignity and love of life.

She volunteered extensively with the Red Cross during WWII. Later in life she had become an artist working with oil paintings and ceramics. Her paintings adorn the homes of several friends and family.Marie is survived by her loving daughter, Carole and son-in-law, Gene, three grandsons, and two step grandsons, one step granddaughter, eleven great grandchildren, two step great grandsons, (the youngest born the day of her death), two great great grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews.

In addition to her husbands and one daughter, four brothers and a sister also preceded her in death.

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