Alette Louise Olin Hill
January 25, 1933 - February 10, 2021
Scholar, wife, mother and author, Alette Louise Olin Hill passed away on February 10, 2021 in Loveland, Colorado shortly after celebrating her 88th birthday. She was preceded in death by her husband Boyd H. Hill, Jr. and her brother Scott Charles Olin. Alette had an affinity for culture and language. The focus of her career shifted, over the decades, from such subjects as French, German, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit to more modern disciplines, including Women's Studies and Technical Writing.
Impatient, tenacious, tough and tireless, Alette on the one hand rebelled against "normal" domestic life as it was accepted during the 1960s and 1970s, but still insisted on having children. She compensated for this burden with a stiff drink from time to time to time.
She was a fan of mystery novels and loved going to the Rue Morgue Bookstore in Boulder. She wrote a number of unpublished mysteries and romance novels, but being the perfectionist, she promptly threw them away after they were rejected. Alette was also a good artist and musician, but with a demanding career and two boys, she didn't have the time or inclination to pursue these talents. She loved the mountains, as did her husband, and lived for a time in both Jamestown and Gold Hill, Colorado. Possessing an acerbic wit, she enjoyed debate and the occasional skewering of both family and party guests. She once remarked to her husband after he compared himself to Winston Churchill that, "The only thing you have in common with Winston Churchill is that you both had American mothers." Beloved friends remarked several times that she was one of the smartest and funniest people that they had ever known. We remember her laugh, her intelligence and her fearlessness.
We love you and miss you, Alette.
--------Alette Louise Olin was born on January 25,
1933 to parents Oscar Charles Olin and Florence Thompson
Olin in Bronxville, New York. She graduated from White Plains High School, NY in 1951 and then attended Duke University where she majored in French.
There, she met her future husband Boyd. In 1953 she attended the University of Paris before returning to Duke and graduating in 1954. On January 26th, 1956 Alette married Boyd at Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She completed her Master of Arts in English at the
University of Virginia in 1959. Alette worked as editor for the Rand Corporation from 1957-1958 and again from 1962 -1964. Alette and Boyd moved to Baton Rouge after Boyd accepted a position at Louisiana State University in 1962. In 1964 the couple moved to Boulder, Colorado where her husband joined the History Department of the University of Colorado. From 1966-1969, she was Assistant Professor at both the University of Southern California, Los Angeles and CU Boulder. She received her PHD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1967. Her specialty was Indo-european Linguistics. From 1975-1980 she served as Director, Office of Innovative Education at CU Boulder.
During the 1980s
Alette worked in both the English and Women's Studies Departments at Metropolitan State College, Denver. Her book, Mother Tongue, Father Time-a Decade of Linguistic Revolt discusses how women's language and sexist language reflect social change.
She was a constant support and collaborator with Boyd, and they published a number of articles together, including
Marc Bloch and Comparative History which appeared in the American Historical Review.
She is survived by her sons Boyd (Nancy) and Michael (Stephanie), grandchildren Ian and Olivia Alette Hill, nephews Eric and Dirk Olin (Jane) as well as her great-nieces Glynnis and Meredith Olin. An event to celebrate Alette's life will be held in the future when we can gather more safely. Alette would have said, "What's the rush?" or possibly, "How boring!" In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Boyd Hill Nature Preserve or the
Southern Poverty Law Center. Her ashes will be spread in the Gulf of Mexico along with her husband's.