BOOTHBAY HARBOR – Alice Robertson Hilton died June 9, 2004, at the St. Andrews Hospital, Boothbay Harbor, after a long illness. Although a resident of St. Andrews Village for only four years, Alice was widely loved and respected especially at St. Columbia’s Episcopal Church where she was treasurer of the Women’s Association. She first became familiar with Boothbay while spending summers on Squirrel Island in the early years of her marriage. Mrs. Hilton was born in Bangor and lived in Orono before enrolling in Wellesley College. Her father, Robert Robertson, owned and operated a paper plate mill in Old Town. On his death in 1974, Mrs. Hilton gave the woodlands on his farm to a land trust in Orono for a 60-acre public park. Mrs. Hilton graduated from Wellesley in 1943 and subsequently received a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Maine. During World War II, she served in the U.S. Navy as a gunnery instructor at Pensacola, Fla., an unlikely post for a gentle person who hated guns. Two brothers, Robert and John were killed while serving in the U.S. Air Force. Prior to her marriage in 1949 to Thomas L. Hilton, a research psychologist, Alice was employed as a writer by the Bangor Commercial and later as society editor for the Penobscot Times in Old Town. Before retiring with her husband, first to Charleston, S.C., and subsequently to Boothbay Harbor, Mrs. Hilton served in the personnel department of Educational Testing Service in Princeton, N.J. In addition to her husband, Tom, Mrs. Hilton is survived by her three sons, Robert Robertson Hilton, President and CEO of the A.M. McGregor Group of East Cleveland, Ohio; William Hilton II, a graphic artist in Patchogue, N.Y., and Thomas Leonard Jr., a computer engineer in Springport, Mich.; and three grandsons. In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Hilton’s family has requested that contributions be made in her memory to St. Columbia’s Episcopal Church, 638 Wiscasset Road, Boothbay, ME 04537. A memorial service will be held 4 p.m. Sunday, June 27, at St. Columbia’s Chapel in the Railway Village. All are welcome. Arrangements are entrusted to Simmons, Harrington & Hall Funeral Home, Boothbay.
ALICE R. HILTON
