ROSE INEZ HILL

(1943 -2025)

Rose Inez Hill, 82, of Portland, Oregon, passed peacefully on October 11, 2025, at her home in Portland, Oregon, after many years’ struggling with acute myeloid leukemia. Her dear friend, Carol Laine, was with her, and she had many friends help her through the years she endured this difficult illness. Rose was a loving, kind activist and warrior spirit who worked to help the Native Community of Portland prosper.

She was born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, on May 17, 1943, to Charles Allen Hill and Eleanor Smith Hill. Rose first met her father when she was two years old. He returned from active duty in the Army, stood in the doorway, while her mother encouraged her to meet him. Rose was an enrolled Oneida through her father.

Her mother was Choctaw from Louisiana. The family settled in Green Bay. Rose had two sisters and two deceased brothers. Their mother died when Rose was thirteen and she took on the role of caring for her sisters.

She attended primary school at St. Patrick’s, graduated from West High School, attended UW Oshkosh, then moved to the west coast in the 1960s. She met Edward Drake while working in Lake Tahoe casinos, and in time, they welcomed baby Zachary while living in Tahoe. Eddie wanted more opportunities, so they moved to Vancouver, Washington. They split up. Rose moved with Zachary to Portland where she found work and began an outstanding career. She was an artist, and attended Portland State University, earning a degree in Art Education. In these years, she met John Loomis and together they made a home for Zachary.

After graduation, she worked with the Northwest Indian Health Board, AIP American Indians Portland as director, and Portland Public School Indian Education. She loved helping students achieve their goals, so she took the position of Indian Student Advocate at PSU. One main goal was to establish the Native American Student and Community Center. Refusing to give up, she was honored for this work by the Portland City Council which in 2024 renamed SW Jackson Street to SW Rose Hill Street. She moved from PSU to work with NARA NW as her son matured. Her work at NARA NW involved her in the problems of addiction and alcoholism, homelessness, runaway youth, and health problems of the impoverished.

During these years, she attended Lewis and Clark College to work on a degree in Educational Guidance and Counseling. She worked with groups in art therapy settings and was one of NARA’s culture keepers. Rose could get diverse Indigenous groups to work together in the ninth largest Native community in the nation. She did not give up on her projects. The day before she passed, she was working on a project to help Native men who were released from prison. That project grew from the unexpected death of her son, Zachary, in 2015. She was dearly loved for her willingness to help others, to be useful to others and for her fierce determination to create social change. She was persistent and positive, smudging away bad energies in places all around Portland.

Rose is survived by her sister, Roberta; her nephew Jacob; and her niece Elsa.