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Former Leesburg mayor G. Dewey Hill Jr. dies
During a time when Leesburg's independence was threatened by regional unification, G. Dewey Hill was a voice promoting the town's individualism.Mr. Hill, 87, a former two-term mayor of Leesburg, died at home Aug. 3. He had been ill for several years.
His legacy, friends say, lives on.
Mr. Hill took up the mantle of mayor in 1973 when he was elected to serve in Kenneth “Kenny” Rollins' stead, after Rollins was voted into the state legislature. Hill then served another term that ended in 1976.
During his tenure as mayor and his time as a town councilman, Mr. Hill was influential in establishing Leesburg's utility treatment facilities.
“For the town to control its destiny, the town needed to be able to control its own water and sewer facilities,” said Leesburg's director of utilities, Randy Shoemaker, who worked with Mr. Hill. Shoemaker said regional government authorities at the time were trying to set up a regional utility system, but that was a no-go idea for those like Mr. Hill serving on the council.
Robert “Bob” Sevila, who served as mayor from 1982 to 1992, remembers Mayor Hill's hands-on approach to the town's capital projects. He said Mr. Hill even would visit town construction sites.
“Dewey was a faithful steward of the town's money and assets,” said Sevila, now an attorney in Leesburg. “You could always find Dewey out there with his hard hat on.”
Mr. Hill, a member of the town's airport commission, also was influential in promoting the need for Leesburg Executive Airport, said Stanley Caulkins of Caulkins Jewelers in Leesburg.
“Back in those days, we were a one-horse town,” Caulkins said. “He was one of the few citizens of the town who was in favor of the airport. There were a lot against it. He was modern enough thinking that the airport was good for the town.”
Mr. Hill was born Aug. 23, 1920, in Martinsburg, W.Va., to Florence Glover and George Dewey Hill Sr.
He was recruited to play football for the University of Virginia, where he was a pre-med student. His studies were interrupted by the call to serve as a medic in the U.S. Navy during World War II and the Korean conflict. He later served as the first president of the Loudoun County Rescue Squad.
Mr. Hill ran one of the largest Nationwide Insurance agencies in Virginia.
He recently was honored for being a Mason for 60 years. He also was a member of the Loudoun Golf and Country Club.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Dorothy K. Hill of Leesburg; a daughter, the Rev. Dr. Sharan J. Hill of Leesburg; a sister, Betty J. Kisner of Charles Town, W.Va.; and a brother, Joseph D. Hill of Ithaca, N.Y.
Mr. Hill was buried in Ebenezer Cemetery near Round Hill.
Memorial donations may be sent to the Loudoun County Volunteer Rescue Squad at LCVRS, P.O. Box 1178, Leesburg, VA 20177.
Arrangements were by Colonial Funeral Home of Leesburg.
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