Estelle Hill wouldn’t be caught out in public in flat shoes or at the breakfast table without proper dress and jewelry.
“She was always very formal up until about five years ago,” son-in-law Michael Deis of Newnan said.
Myrtle Estelle Morrow Hill, 110, died peacefully June 17. She was at the home of daughter Sandra Deis and son-in-law Michael Deis, where she had lived for the past 10 years.
Only seven Americans – including Estelle – were identified in 2017 as supercentenarians, people 110 years or older.
Estelle came from a long line of long-lifers. She surpassed – with several years to spare — her goal of outliving her grandmother, who died at 103, her daughter said.
“Clean living and hard work” probably played a role in her long life, as did being the last few years with family, Sandra Deis said.
Until relative recently, the two women were able to enjoy a mutual love of shopping and would regularly hit the stores at Lennox Square mall, Michael Deis said.
Estelle lived in the College Park, Union City and East Point areas until age 100.
Her father, John Morrow, was a dentist in College Park when she was born Nov. 12, 1906.
Myrtle Estelle Morrow Hill and Sanford Daniel Hill were married on December 24, 1932, and they were divorced in 1960.
Later in life, Estelle lost many of her teeth, mostly because she couldn’t find a dentist she liked and trusted, daughter Sandra said.
As a result, Estelle’s diet in her final year consisted mostly of the snack Cheetos, she said.
Estelle was a homemaker, a professional seamstress and a cook known for her potato salad and chocolate and coconut cakes.
In addition to shopping, she loved music of all kinds, her church, East Point Baptist; and her family.
She was known for her sharp mind, particularly her ability to remember the birthdays of relatives and friends.
Estelle never smoked. She told the family she had been turned off to smoking back in horse-and-buggy days when her father’s pipe smoke would drift back into her face, her daughter said.
Family members said Estelle lived by the Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.”
Her funeral service was scheduled at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the chapel of McKoon Funeral Home, with the Rev. J.W. Wallis officiating. Interment would be at Westview Cemetery.
She was preceded in death by her siblings, Floy Morrow Ferguson, John (J.C.) Morrow, and Sevola Morrow Fessenden.
Survivors include her daughter, Sandra Hill Deis, one grandson and four great-grandchildren.
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