Mary Carolyn Hills

Mary Carolyn Hills was born on April 4, 1942, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Harold J. McNally and Mary Louise McNally. She attended Marquette High School in Tulsa, graduating in 1960, and then attended the University of Colorado, Boulder, for a time, before transferring to Oklahoma State University. On August 31, 1963, Mary Carolyn married her high school boyfriend, Thomas Kenneth Hills, Jr. (aka "Tom"), and together they were blessed with four children. When Tom died in September 2021, Mary went to live with her daughter in California until she passed away on March 29, 2023, a week before her 81st birthday. Born to nurture and give, Mary Carolyn loved caring for others. After raising their four children, Mary Carolyn and Tom hosted four foreign exchange students, cared for children of family friends, babysat all of her grandchildren, and fostered and adopted five Maltese dogs. Mary Carolyn was an ever-present school and church volunteer and cheerleader for all those children and grandchildren at an infinite number of sporting events, dance performances, music recitals and school and other activities. Somehow, her passion for bridge drove her, first, to find the time to perfect her formidable skills as a player and, second, to share those skills with others over the course of decades as a teacher, club player and friend of the game. She was the secretary of the American Bridge Teachers Association, and traveled for tournament competitions as a member of the American Contract Bridge League, where she earned the rank of Life Master, but always preferred a night of bridge and banter with her lifelong friends in bridge clubs here in Tulsa, or the countless nights laughing and chasing crazy rummy victories with her immediate family and friends who were always welcome and treated like family. It is safe to say we all know where the competitive spirit in the family likely originated. Mary Carolyn was an excellent cook, she loved to read and had particular penchants for romance novels, John Wayne, Classic Movies, Elvis Presley, Ricky Nelson, The Beach Boys, and of course, PANDAS and ELEPHANTS! She was always giving anything she could to countless charities. Most of all, she loved her children and their children and always went out of her way to help them and others in any way she could. Mary Carolyn was preceded in death by her parents and her husband, Tom. She is survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Ellen and Gary Federle of Harrison Township, Michigan, and by her brother, Tom McNally of Bixby, Oklahoma. She will be dearly missed by her children and their families: Jeff and Jan Hills, Natalie and her husband Arpan, Emma and Abigail; Robert and Shelley Hills, Josh, Erin, Sam, Ivy, Tess, and Sawyer; Steven Hills, Rick, Tristan, and Becca; and Karen and Jason Bomar, Matthew, Michael, and Nathan. May she rest in peace knowing she was loved dearly by family and friends and will remain in our hearts forever. A rosary will be held at Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Chapel on Sunday, April 16, 2023, at 7:00 p.m. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday, April 17, 2023, at 10:30 a.m. at the Church of Saint Mary. A reception will follow mass at Saint Mary, with the committal at Calvary Cemetery at 1:30 pm In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to American Cancer Society or Saint Jude Children's Hospital.

Mary Carolyn Hills

April 4, 1942 - March 29, 2023