Dr. Ron Hill

DEXTER, Mo. -- Dr. Ronald T. Hill, 63, of Dexter died Tuesday, May 14, 2002, at Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

He was born Feb. 23, 1939, in Cape Girardeau, son of T.S. and Mary Ann Hastings Hill. He and Donna Neubauer were married Sept. 15, 1995, in Cape Girardeau.

Hill was a 1964 graduate of the University of Missouri Medical School, and did his internship and general surgery residency at Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.

He spent two years in the U.S. Army, where he was a surgeon in a MASH unit during the Vietnam War and then served as chairman of orthopedic services at Ireland Army Hospital in Fort Knox, Ky. He received a Bronze Star and Vietnam Bronze Star.

Hill began his private practice in general surgery at Dexter in 1971. He was on staff at Dexter Memorial Hospital (now Missouri Southern Healthcare) and Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Mo. He has served as chief of staff and chief of surgery at Dexter Memorial Hospital. He was also the athletic physician at Dexter High School.

He was a member of First Baptist Church and had served as deacon, Sunday School teacher, member of choir and the Men's Prayer Group.

Hill served on the Dexter Memorial Hospital Board of Directors and on other medical related boards in Dexter, Stoddard County, and state of Missouri. He was a former board member of University of Missouri Alumni Association, American Cancer Society, and Dexter Chamber of Commerce.

Survivors include his wife; a son, Chris Hill of Springfield, Mo.; a daughter, Gwen Pollara of Denver, Colo.; two stepsons, Bill Neubauer of Los Angeles, Calif., Jonathan Neubauer of Newport Beach, Calif.; two sisters, Marilyn Lincoln of Alexandria, Va., Sue Hellwege of Cape Girardeau; and a grandchild.

Friends may call at Rainey-Mathis Funeral Home in Dexter from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.

Funeral will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at First Baptist Church, with the Rev. Wayne Dismuke officiating. Burial will be in Dexter Cemetery.