Lucille Virginia “Jean” Hillyer, 89, of Anthem, Arizona, passed away peacefully on Dec. 31, 2025, in her home with her husband at her side. She resided in Commerce, Georgia, and also Florida, South Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin and Alaska before retiring to Arizona.
Lucille was born in Greenville, South Carolina, to David Wilbern Strickland and Margaret Lucille Woodall on Feb. 27, 1936. She married Harold Robert “Bob” Hillyer on Dec. 28, 1950. After Bob Hillyer’s death, she met and married Peter Bente in Nome, Alaska.
She attended Commerce High School in Georgia and graduated from American School in Chicago. She graduated from Bible Baptist College, in Springfield, Missouri, with an associate of arts degree in Christian education and a bachelor of arts degree in religious education. She completed her student teaching qualifications at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
Lucille’s first husband was an ordained minister and she worked tirelessly with him for 30 years to bring the Baptist ministry to many communities. She joined the Bible Baptist Fellowship International mission program and served 10 years in Wrangell and 14 years in Nome. She was an active leader of church programs, especially worship services, festivals, Sunday school, summer camps, yearly Bible schools and youth groups.
She worked at Kawerak (a tribal consortium) as the Head Start health coordinator to bring services to 12 Native villages in the Bering Strait region.
Lucille was preceded in death by her first husband, Harold Hillyer; parents David and Margaret Strickland; and brother Furman Strickland.
She is survived by her husband; children David Hillyer (Glenda), Lorraine Ivy-Dahlin and Karen Phillips (Lyle); grandchildren David Hillyer (Lorraine), Kristi Busse (Andy), Trina Ivy-Moreno (Phillip), Robert Ivy (Brittany), Timothy Ivy (Rebekah), Tanya Lester (Nicolas), Arthur Johnson and Benjamin Johnson (Jenny); great-grandchildren Kendon Rowcroft-Ivy, Faith Every (Devin), Carter, Kadin and Kodi Ivy, Emma and Grace Lester, Sophia and Norah Johnson; nieces Sabrina Short (Steven) and Tina Burns (Bruce).
Memorial donations may be made to the Bible Baptist Fellowship www.bbfi.org; Kawerak Head Start www.kawerak.org; Pioneers of Alaska Women’s Igloo No. 1, PO Box 146 Nome, AK 99762; Nome Arts Council www.alaskacf.org; Wounded Warrior Project support.woundedwarriorproject.org; and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church www.oslcnome.org.
A celebration of life will be held at Christ the Lord Lutheran Church in Carefree, Arizona, on Feb. 27 at 1 p.m. Burial will follow at Grey Hill Cemetery in Commerce, Georgia, on March 7 at 2 p.m. Following interment, a celebration service will be held at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Nome on March 25 at 2 p.m.
