Person:Houston Hill (2)

He was known by his middle name, which is not pronounced like the city in Texas, and was named for a good friend of his father's at the time of his birth.

After starting out working for his brother-in-law, George Binney, he gradually built his own business, called the "Steam Equipment Company." Through this company he marketed manufacturers' valves, boilers, and soot blowers to the steel companies at Pittsburgh. This business evidently worked by selling a few large items each year, with lengthy periods between sales. The Depression produced such a period, and several years passed then without any sales, causing the obvious problems. Only with the coming of World War II did the business really become dependable.

I recall hearing several stories associated with my grandfather's lengthy bachelor years in Pittsburgh. The favorite was the time he took a dare that caused him to swim around the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, and supposedly nearly ended the relationship with my grandmother. Earlier his scrapbooks indicate lots of activities with new cars, including an unusually adventurous trip across the Alleghenies in one of his first ones.

He was a charming, energetic, sociable man who enjoyed outdoor activities, cars, sailing, and especially a good party. He was at ease with most everyone, and was enjoyed by all, and as a result had an endless list of friends. Along with this he was demanding, meticulous and sometimes excitable. I remember my grandparents' home as constantly active and exciting, lots of people and lots of discussion, often very animated. As I became old enough to join in his daily routine, we developed what I felt was a close and personal relationship. My grandmother often commented that there was a "charm" to the Hill's and that my grandfather's personality exemplified it.

During the Depression, the family was offered the use of a cabin in the Georgian Bay near Point au Baril, Ontario. Three summers were spent there in ultimate rustic-ness, enjoyed by my grandfather and endured by my more urban grandmother. After the war, they purchased a summer home at Van Buren Bay, New York, and enjoyed several years of vacations there. Over all these years they traveled widely, often going to Florida or the West Indies for a month in the winter. During my childhood they always came to the beach in New Jersey for a couple of weeks in the summer. There, while in his eighties, he taught my sister and I to swim in the surf.