Lt Jessica Ellen Hill
Born: Saranac Lake, New York
Died: August 17, 2006
Lieut Jessica E Hill spent much of her life in St. Augustine, Florida and had joined the Coast Guard after she graduated from the University of South Alabama with a master’s degree in marine science. It was what she lived for. Vivacious and adventurous, she spent many hours on a sailboat traveling with her parents on their boat. Jessica had been accepted into the Navy diving school in Panama City, Florida where she had competed and surpassed many other Coast Guard and Navy enlisted personnel. She was accepted and tested in the same diving school that was popularized in the 2000 film “Men of Honor.” The intense diving program offers only a few openings each year for enlisted men and women. Acceptance into the program is determined by several factors, including command approval, physical fitness and swimming capabilities, and is extremely selective. It was very competitive, and she excelled at it. Jessica was currently serving as the Marine Science Officer on Healy since mid-summer 2004. She acted as the onboard Liaison between the science personnel and the Healy command. She also coordinated the on-load of science gear and also served as Healy’s dive officer. She leaves behind her father, William Carl Hill Jr., her mother, Dawn Ellen Zimmerman, a sister, Adrienne Hill Gullett, a brother, William Carl Hill III, stepfather, Rob Zimmerman, stepmothers, Karen Hill, and Sherri Sundberg, step brothers, Cayman Eby, David Kausch and Josh Kausch, step sister, Christina Kausch, fiance, Tim Tully. Jessica died at age 31 during a scientific expedition about 500 miles from the Alaskan coast while conducting a routine SCUBA dive from the ice at 77 12.3 N 177 35.8W.
Cremated: Ashes scattered at sea.
The Lt Jessica Ellen Hill by Freedom Remembered, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License.
