Gloria Marie Hill

Gloria Marie Hill (née Vial), age 89, passed away in the hospital in Lone Tree, Colorado, on May 2, 2026. She was born in 1936 in Santa Barbara, California, to Mario and Lydia Vial, and was raised there and in Sacramento. She was a 1958 graduate of Stanford University, with a Bachelor of Arts in Music and a minor in Education. While concertmistress in the Stanford Orchestra, she met Harold W. Hill, Jr., to whom she was married until his passing in 2014.

 Besides being a homemaker, and loving mother to her children, Gloria worked at different times as an elementary school teacher (permanent and substitute), violin teacher, and banker. 

Gloria's first love was music, and she on the violin and Hal on the cello would spend long hours each evening practicing chamber music and then regularly meet with like-minded friends to play concertos into the night. Gloria was also active in her local church, St. Dorothy Catholic Church in Glendora, California, until she moved in 2018 to a retirement community in Highlands Ranch, Colorado. 

Gloria will be remembered for her kindness, her courtesy, her smile, and her sense of humor. She is survived by her sons David and John; grandsons Robert, Sean, and James; step-grandson Joe Chavez; and great-grandsons Isaac and Micah.

A Funeral Mass will take place at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Santa Barbara, June 18, at 10 a.m. The commitment service will follow at Calvary Cemetery. A social gathering will occur afterward, details to be announced. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Breast Cancer Research Fund (bcrf.org).