Doris Teresa (Albert) Hill,
August 20, 1927-October 1, 2017
Doris Teresa (Albert) Hill passed away peacefully in her sleep on October 1, 2017 after a decade-long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. She was a life-long resident of the City of Lowell, MA. Born and raised in “Little Canada,” in the shadow of the Boott Mills where both her parents worked, she had an indomitable zest for life, a passion for literacy and education and a sincere love for family.
Doris graduated from St. Joseph’s High School for Girls in 1945. At a time when most of her peers began working in the mills or getting married, Doris made the bold choice to further her education at a business school in Boston and pursue a career outside of the mills. After WWII, when Fort Devens was converted to a college where soldiers could use their GI bills for education, she went to work as an assistant for one of the top-ranking officers on base. She embraced this new community, working for the government and helping soldiers readjust to civilian life. One of her happiest memories of this time was when the GIs organized a football team to play other local colleges, she organized her fellow women on base to be their cheerleaders, complete with uniforms and megaphones!
Throughout her twenties, Doris maintained a large friend group that spent their weekends dancing at Lowell’s famous Commodore Ballroom. It was there that she met the love of her life, George J. Hill. He swept her off her feet, literally, while jitter-bugging to the big band sounds of their day. They were married on October 27, 1951, settled in the Belvidere section of Lowell, and together had four children, six grandsons and one great-grandson.
As much as Doris loved her career, she loved being a mother more. She reveled in all of her children’s activities and worked tirelessly to support their interests—volunteering for the PTA at the Peter W. Reilly Elementary and Moody Junior High Schools, making costumes for her daughters’ dance classes, being the Den Mother to her sons’ boy/cub scout troops, fundraising for the Lowell High School Football Boosters, organizing travel baseball tournaments. She immersed herself in her children’s lives, and they were all the better for it.
Later in life, Doris returned to work for the government at the Internal Revenue Service, ultimately retiring to become the “Nana/Nanny” for her three youngest grandchildren for ten years. She was the biggest fan at her grandsons’ sporting events and local theatrical productions. She introduced them to a love of reading and fostered a curiosity about the world. Through her unconditional love, she taught them about kindness, generosity and respect, and she will be dearly missed.
Doris was the daughter of the late Wilfred and Hermine (Morin) Albert. She was preceded in death by her husband, George Joseph Hill, son John (Jackie) Hill and daughter, Mary Jo (MJ) Hill, and brothers Armand, Andrew and Roland Albert. She is survived by her son, Gregory Hill and his wife, Pim, of Lowell, MA and her daughter, Anne Marie Hill and her husband, Scott Davis, of Winchester, MA; grandsons John, Eric and Brett Hill and Owen, Alec and Graeme Davis, as well as her great-grandson, Dominic Hill. She is also survived by her sister Claire (Albert) Major, and many nieces and nephews. Doris’ family would like to acknowledge the staff at D’Youville Life and Wellness in Lowell, MA who, with tenderness and love and lots of music, helped care for Doris in the final few years of her life.
Family and friends are invited to attend a wake in her honor at McDonough’s Funeral Home, 14 Highland Street, Lowell, MA on Friday, October 6, 2017 between the hours of 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM.
A mass of Christian burial will be held at the Immaculate Conception Church, 144 East Merrimack Street, Lowell, MA at 9:30 AM on Saturday, October 7, 2017.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations be made in her honor to the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.
