The friends and loved ones who gathered Saturday morning in Calvary Episcopal Church to celebrate the life of Elsie Hilliard Hillman shared more than just their memories.
They shared the challenge of continuing the work she did for Pittsburgh.
“She was the queen of Pittsburgh, the place she loved, the place she served, and the place she enhanced so dramatically,” former University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark Nordenberg said in his remembrance to those who filled the large Shadyside church to capacity.
But he reminded those attending that Mrs. Hillman was not a fan of ceremonial trappings. She was, he said, “a queen with a common touch and a monarch by merit.” A person “whose capacity to do good may never be matched but that can serve as a source of inspiration for all of us.”
An influential political and civic activist, Mrs. Hillman, the wife of industrialist Henry Hillman, died Aug. 4 at age 89. She was long known and loved for her commitment to women’s causes, civil rights, education and health issues, most notably in the efforts against AIDS and cancer.
“She was as close to perfection as we ever are likely to see walking the face of this Earth,” Mr. Nordenberg said. “And to our good fortune, she did most of her walking here in Pittsburgh, and in the company of a husband who shared both her remarkable human qualities and her heartfelt commitment to advancing the greater good.”
Those attending the memorial and a reception that followed in the Carnegie Museum’s Hall of Architecture included numerous political, civic, business and medical leaders. Among them were former Pennsylvania governors Dick Thornburgh, Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Tom Corbett, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and former Executive Jim Roddey, Mayor Bill Peduto and former Mayor Tom Murphy, all of whom considered Mrs. Hillman a counselor and a friend. Catholic Bishop David Zubik joined Episcopal Bishop Dorsey McConnell in the service.
“She had a warm heart, a caring touch, boundless energy, determination worthy of the Steel City, and an unmatched record of hard work in her never-ending quest to help others,” Mr. Nordenberg said. Then, to Mr. Hillman and the family members seated in the front pews, he added, “The community sense of loss is so great that we do have at least some measure of the depth of the family’s grief.”
Mr. Ridge, another speaker at the ceremony, noted how Mrs. Hillman “would use her political network to help others.”
“She had a passion for politics, and she believed government should play a meaningful role and be a positive force in people’s lives,” he said. “For generations, Elsie was the dominant and benevolent leader in our state. By the way, with friends on both sides of the aisle.”
“She was everyone’s friend,” said Jim Rohr, the former CEO and chairman of PNC Bank. “She brought people together, she created success, and she created wonderful things and improvement for the lives of others. ... She was a tireless woman, who gave of herself for the betterment of others.”
The Rev. Harold T. Lewis, the rector emeritus of Calvary, reminded the crowd that Mrs. Hillman had been baptized in the church nearly nine decades earlier and remained a faithful parishioner all her life, “driving herself to the 8 o’clock Eucharist every Sunday in her little car with an elephant on the hood,” an indication of her Republican Party roots. “Though some people insist that it was a donkey,” he added, an allusion to her socially liberal views sometimes aligning her with the Democratic camp.
Politics was “her passion, her ministry, her life’s work,” Rev. Lewis said. “She was unstinting in her labors to empower those who too often are in the margins of society, especially women and racial minorities. Not with handouts, but with introductions and endorsements to those in positions of power.”
None of the speakers could talk about Mrs. Hillman’s life without talking about the city of Pittsburgh as well. The Rev. Jonathon W. Jensen, the rector of Calvary, emphasized that point in his homily.
“A great city like this one is far more than buildings made of steel and stone, museums and monuments, universities and hospitals, factories and rivers and parks, and even more than its people,” he said. “A city is a community of imagination. A whole society created and bound together in love for one another.”
Mr. Nordenberg reminded the listeners that Mrs. Hillman “called on everyone to help. Don’t be a spectator. ... And help is needed in every corner of the community.
“Our most meaningful expressions of love and respect,” he said, “will come then when we take on some worthy task with Elsie’s words and deeds in our minds and in our hearts. In that way, we will become a living extension of her amazing and her still-growing legacy.”
Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456.
First Published: September 20, 2015, 4:00 a.m.
