Emma Jean Hill, affectionately known as "Jean", 81 of Waxhaw, NC, passed away peacefully on Friday, May 6, 2022, at Peak Resources.   She was born August 18, 1940 in Montgomery, Alabama to Lena Bell Richardson and Hamilton Marzetta Hill.  Jean was the oldest of five children, Barbara Jordan, Hamilton Hill, Betty Lewis and Sheryl Lewis, all now deceased.

Jean's early life was spent in Montgomery, Alabama. Her family moved to New York in her early teenage years.  She attended John Adams High School.  After high school, she began her career with the Federal Government.  She worked for many agencies within the Federal Government including the U.S. Foreign Service, Naval Hospital and the Federal Aviation Administrative.  Government Service led her to live in Paris, France, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, California and then settle in New York to raise her daughter, Stephanie.  After 33 years of service, Jean retired to care for her mother.

Jean had a never ending passion for all things horticulture.  She expressed her creativity through her plants, flowers and gardens.  Indoor or outdoor, Jean was able to make them all flourish.  She could always be found tinkering in her gardens. She had a vegetable garden in the backyard and a flower garden in the front yard, and every corner inside of her house was always filled with a variety of beautiful flowers and plants.  Her nourishing spirit helped to make the things around her grow.

Jean's warm smile and a welcoming personality could light up any room.  She always looked for ways to help, encourage and bless others.  Jean moved through life with quiet strength, dignity and grace.  She was an independent thinker who lived life according to her own moral compass.  These traits served her well.  She was not one to follow the crowd.  She chose her own path and forged ahead.  She was the anchor, role model and loving Matriarch of our family.

Jean was a deeply religious Christian.  She put up a valiant struggle against Alzheimer's Disease for more than ten years.  Her strong faith and belief in God never wavered.  Even though the darkest times of the disease when she could not longer remember people, places or things, she continued to call on God for strength.  She modeled her faith for us all.

"I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalm 34:1

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Psalm 18:2

Celebrating her life and mourning her loss are her daughter, Stephanie Berkeley-Reynolds (Michael Reynolds); her stepson, Kenneth Berkeley (Mark Bennett); her grandsons, Michael Reynolds, Jr., Justin Reynolds and Jared Reynolds; her cousin, Deborah Blackstone (James Blackstone); Joan Berkeley (Stephanie's stepmom); her nieces, Annette Jackson (Woodrow Jackson), Tanisha Jones (Maurice Jones), Britanya Bethea (Anthony Bethea), Chante Lewis; her nephew, Christopher Lewis (Jeanette Nunley); her lifelong friends, Alicia Hogan and Charlsie Johnson; and a host of grand nieces, grand nephews, extended family and friends.