Obituary Record

Trent R Hill
Died on 10/11/2014
Buried in Blair Cemetery

Posted on line: Tuesday, October 14, 2014; Published in The Pilot Tribune Tuesday, October 15, 2014

(Photo)

Trent R. Hill, 15, of Blair, died Saturday, Oct. 11, 2014.

Funeral services will be Friday, Oct. 17, at 10 a.m. at Country Bible Church. Interment will follow services in the Blair Cemetery. Visitation will be Thursday, Oct. 16, from 3 to 8 p.m. with family receiving friends from 6 to 8 p.m. at Campbell-Aman Funeral Home in Blair.

Omaha World Herald, 15 Oct 2014

Hill, Trent R. Oct 29, 1998 - Oct 11, 2014 Survived by his parents, Dion and Karen Hill of Blair; brother Cody Hill; paternal grandparents, Ed Hill of San Antonio and Mary Lou (Jim) Maddock of Omaha; maternal grandmother Mary Ann Haley of Omaha; great grandmother Mary Cirian of Omaha; aunts and uncles, Terri (Cliff) Kiederling of Omaha, Nick Hill of Omaha and Ed Hill of Dallas; and cousin Jordan Hill of Omaha. FUNERAL SERVICES will be Friday at 10am at Country Bible Church. VISITATION will be Thursday from 3-8pm with family receiving friends from 6-8pm at Campbell Aman. Interment will follow services in the Blair Cemetery. CAMPBELL-AMAN FUNERAL HOME 444 S. 17th Blair, NE 402-426-2191 www.campbellaman.com

Posted on line: Tuesday, October 14, 2014; Published in The Pilot Tribune, Tuesday, October 15, 2014

. Blair teen killed in one-car crash

(Photo and caption) Rescue personnel from Blair and Fort Calhoun responded to the scene of a one-car crash Saturday morning in the 9500 block of Pine Crest Road south of Blair. Trent Hill, 15, of Blair was killed in the crash.

The driver in a crash Saturday that killed 15-year-old Trent Hill has been identified.

Brandt Hovanec, 15, of Blair, was driving a Ford crew cab pickup eastbound on Pine Crest Road when he lost control and rolled into the south ditch, Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson said.

Emergency responders from both Blair and Fort Calhoun were called to Pine Crest Road, located about 1.5 miles south of Blair and 1 mile west of U.S. Highway 75, at about 10 a.m.

Hill, a sophomore at Blair High School, was thrown from the backseat and pronounced dead at the scene, Robinson said.

Hovanec was uninjured.

According to the sheriff's office, alcohol is not believed to be a factor and seat belts were not used. The vehicle's speed and cause of the accident are under investigation, Robinson said. He would not comment on whether charges will be filed.

Hovanec's vehicle also had two other passengers, ages 15 and 16. They were uninjured.

Omaha World Herald 13 Oct 2014

By Kevin Cole and Jay Withrow, World-Herald Staff Writers

Wesleyan athlete among four killed on Nebraska roadways

(The following was included in the article:)

A 15-year-old Blair boy, a 51-year-old Nebraska woman and a 29-year-old resident of Aurora, Colorado, died in accidents Saturday.

The teenager, Trent Hill, was a passenger in a pickup truck. According to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Hill was not using a seat belt when the truck crashed about 10 a.m. about 1 ½ miles south of Blair and a mile west of U.S. Highway 75 near the 9500 block of Pine Crest Road.

Sheriff Mike Robinson said Hill was in the rear seat of the crew-cab pickup. The 15-year-old driver lost control, and the truck rolled into a ditch. Hill was thrown out and died at the scene. The driver, who was not identified, and two other passengers were not injured.

Rex Pfeil, superintendent of Blair Community Schools, said today that Hill was popular among his fellow students.

“He was a very personable, well-liked young man,” Pfeil said.

The superintendent also said the sophomore competed in wrestling at the high school.

“Wrestling was really a passion for him,” Pfeil said.

Grief counselors were at Blair High on Sunday afternoon, he said, and were to be available today and through the week.

Hill’s death will be felt far beyond the high school, Pfeil said.

“Anytime you have the loss of a high school student,” he said, “it’s a tragic loss for the whole community.”

Posted: Thursday, October 30, 2014

(Photo)

‘This isn’t a happy birthday’ By Tammy Bain

Trent Hill’s 16th birthday was a solemn one.

Just three weeks after he died in a one-vehicle accident, his family and friends released green balloons at his grave on Wednesday and ate cupcakes in remembrance of Trent.

“It would have been one of the happiest days of his life,” Karen Hill, Trent’s mother, said as she hugged a friend. “Just being 16, you know?”

About 90 students from Blair High School, friends and some parents met at Blair Cemetery just after 3:30 p.m., gathering around Trent’s plot.

As they exchanged hugs and offered hugs to Karen, a silence surrounded the site, the only sound coming from the squeak of markers, as friends wrote messages to Trent on their balloons.

Karen and two classmates put pictures on Trent’s plot as well as a piece of cake with a candle in it. She thanked the crowd and asked them to gather away from the surrounding trees.

“Traditionally, you would sing happy birthday,” she told the group. “But this isn’t a happy birthday.” Instead, she suggested counting to 16, then letting the balloons go.

So the group counted, then watched as the green balloons floated for some time.

“I just want to thank everybody for being a part of Trent’s life,” Karen said after a few minutes. “I think we all made him who he was. I really do.”

She reminded the crowd to wear seat belts —something she said may have saved Trent —as she’d just told him the decisions he made could affect the rest of his life.

“I was young once, too,” she said. “I thought nothing could happen to me.”

She then invited the crowd to enjoy cupcakes and soda, but instead, a group gathered around Trent’s plot.

Students were still gathered a little after 4, and Zach McDonald, one of Trent’s friends, recalled what the day would have been like.

“We didn’t really plan to do much,” he said. “He was really excited to drive, though.”

Zach said Trent planned to drive around his friends who were not old enough to have licenses.

“Just anywhere we wanted to go,” he said.“As long as we pitched in a little for gas.”

Posted: Thursday, October 16, 2014

Blair teen remembered for smile, dedication By Tammy Bain

Dion Hill won’t forget his youngest son’s smile.

“He’d always flip his hair, flip the peace sign and be out the door in a minute,” he said.

After Trent Hill’s death in a Saturday morning rollover car accident, that smile sticks out to everyone: classmates, administrators, coach and family.

“He just had a way,” his mother, Karen said through tears — not only with his friends, but with their parents. “They wanted to keep him at their house.”

Coleen Spencer, the mother of Trent’s friend, Zach, agreed. Whenever the boys wanted something like spending the night on a school night, they’d ask together, she said. It was harder to say no if Trent was there.

After she’d say yes, “Zach would shout out, ‘Thanks, love you, Mom,’” Spencer said. “And Trent would always follow up with a, ‘Yeah, love you, Mom.’”

Zach remembers a summer wrestling camp in Sydney, where time was spent paint balling, river rafting, playing in the lake and spending days in between camps going to a movie and lounging around.

“How many stories are you willing to take?” he asked. “I could write all day about the great times we had.”

So could Trent’s other friends. Conner Miller, 16, remembered one summer night, as he and Trent pulled a floating raft with a dead trolling motor battery across a lake, fully clothed.

“It was super cold, and super fun and funny,” he said.

Makenzie Lee, a 2014 Blair graduate, shared a class with Trent, where the seniors “adored him,” she said. He’d smile and say hi when she helped in a science class, and she loved, “his cute little hair flip that he did all the time,” she said. While home from college at a football game in September, Trent yelled her name, gave her a hug and, after chatting, she told him she’d see him soon.

Everybody spoke of Trent’s joking. But, “he knew when to shut it off,” Karen said.

Tom Anderson, principal at Blair High School, agreed, noting the times he saw Trent in the school cafeteria with his friends, and after school in the wrestling room and weight room.

Wrestling coach Erich Warner saw the same thing.

“The only times I can think of him without a smile on his face was when he stepped on to the mat to compete,” Warner said.

When Trent’s hand was raised for a win, “that smile quickly returned.” When Trent lost, “it might take a little longer, but not long after, that smile would be back to greet you,” he said.

Trent started wrestling in fourth grade, as he watched his brother, Cody, now 22, wrestle. Cody, “just loved that kid more than life itself,” Karen said.

Trent also left behind pseudo-siblings: Zach’s sister, Caitlin, 12, called Trent another brother, and he was Zach’s niece, 7-year-old Alana Mazur’s, first crush.

“Trent was there for every birthday, and many of our family’s holidays as well,” Mazur’s mother, Amber Eldredge said.

Trent was looking forward to getting his license on his 16th birthday, Oct. 29, and going out for football next year as he was starting to get a bit taller, Karen said.

Always a smaller player in middle school, bigger players might see Trent as an easy target, said John White, whose son played on Trent’s middle school team.

“There was no tougher kid, nobody who played with more heart and determination on that team than Trent Hill,” he said.

Trent was determined to make state wrestling, even if not this year, Karen said.

“At this point in his life, he was so confident,” she said. “He had so much to live for.”

A makeshift memorial now sits at the accident scene — wrestling shoes tossed over one of the three crosses.

The Hill family plans to celebrate Trent’s birthday at his burial site, though it’s hard to see past that.

“Every day is going to be hard,” Karen said. “All the things that are so routine, and (now) there’s no routine.”

But the family isn’t alone, as she noted, “the outpouring of support that this town has given us in this nightmare in our lives — it has been tremendous.”

Many took to social media — from Instagrams of an empty desk to a memorial Facebook page and tweets about the quiet left behind.

“It doesn’t seem real,” one tweeted.

To those left behind, the Hill family has just a few wishes.

“Just wear your seat belts guys, please,” Karen said.

Her youngest, “might have made it” if he’d worn his, she said. She and Dion said to hug your parents, children, brothers and sisters.

“And tell the kids,” Karen said, “To never forget my boy.” Posted: Tuesday, October 14, 2014

(Photo)

Driver identified in Blair fatal crash Tammy Bain

The driver in a crash Saturday that killed 15-year-old Trent Hill has been identified.

Brandt Hovanec, 15, of Blair, was driving a Ford crew cab pickup eastbound on Pine Crest Road when he lost control and rolled into the south ditch, Washington County Sheriff Mike Robinson said.

Emergency responders from both Blair and Fort Calhoun were called to Pine Crest Road, located about 1.5 miles south of Blair and 1 mile west of U.S. Highway 75, at about 10 a.m.

Hill, a sophomore at Blair High School, was thrown from the backseat and pronounced dead at the scene, Robinson said.

Hovanec was uninjured.

According to the sheriff's office, alcohol is not believed to be a factor and seat belts were not used. The vehicle's speed and cause of the accident are under investigation, Robinson said. He would not comment on whether charges will be filed.

Hovanec's vehicle also had two other passengers, ages 15 and 16. They were uninjured.

~~~ Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair Public Library at Blair, Nebraska.~~~

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 10/15/2014


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