The Passing of Artist Steve Hills

Submitted by our friends at Artful Things in Niceville...

To all Steve’s students, artists, and friends:
You are welcome to attend a Memorial for Steve which will be held at Tom Hills home on Saturday June 5th starting at 3 p.m. Tom’s address is 240 Lafitte Crescent, Ft. Walton Beach, FL. It is  around the corner from where Steve and Trudy lived on Alden. Please don’t wear black.  Steve would have preferred color.


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Steven Laird Hills
5-22-47 to 5-22-10

Born in Mishawaka, Indiana, May 22, 1947, to John R. (Russ) Hills and Ruth E. Hills, Steve was the first of four brothers. He blazed his unique trails as an Air Force brat and moved all over the country collecting interesting hobbies and friends.

Steve may be best known as one of the most gifted of watercolor artists. In 1965, he graduated from Choctawhatchee High School, in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, and then attended Okaloosa-Walton Junior College, now Northwest Florida State College until 1967.   From 1967 to 1969, he attended John McCrady Art School in New Orleans. During his service in the Army from 1969 to 1971, he was the Head of the Graphics Department for the Berlin Brigade. In 1974, Steve completed his formal art education, earning his B. A. from Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, California. For several years, Steve was involved with commercial illustration, advertising, and design, with agencies in New Orleans and California. His clients included Bell Telephone, Mo-Town Records, Mattel Toys, Continental Airlines and many more. Steve was also a very colorful and giving teacher. He shared his vast knowledge on many subjects with others. As well as exhibiting in several galleries, he won numerous awards from juried art shows and was featured in magazines, articles and reviews in the art world. His original watercolor paintings, oil paintings, and limited edition prints are in local galleries and in collections within the U.S., Germany, England and Australia. You may enjoy viewing his art at www.shills.com.

Steve was also a world-renowned model airplane enthusiast and an icon in u-control combat. He was one of the surfing pioneers in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, during the early '60's and in Hermosa Beach, California, from the '70's until the '90's. Along with his long-time friend, owner and driver Jim Jack, of Milton, Florida, he designed and built the Reptoid Monster Truck.

Steve's artistic skills, keen intellect, acerbic wit, and inability to be snowed by a pre-spun political sound bite fed his political satire cartoons.

Preceded in death by his parents, and brother, John M. Hills, Steve is survived by Trudy Craine, brothers, Thomas L. (Tom) Hills, Eric D. (Rick) Hills and wife Sally, niece and nephew Margaret (Maggie) and Adam Juengst, sister-in-law Janet Hills, niece Jennifer Ranck and husband Rich, grand nephew, John Richard Ranck, aunt Barbara Baumann and husband Bill, and numerous cousins.

Steve's unique perspective was lost to us all on his 63rd birthday, May 22, 2010. Due to his untimely death by natural causes, the world will be an even stranger place without him. In lieu of flowers, support the arts and think of Steve.