Lieutenant Bernard C. Hill

Bernard Charles Hill was born in Lawrence, Kansas, on September 11, 1915. He graduated from Hanover, Kansas, High School in 1934. He entered the United States Army in 1942 and was trained as a Military Police officer. He served in the Military Police until 1946, attaining the rank of First Lieutenant.

On April 15, 1946, he joined the Patrol and was assigned to field duties in McPherson. Hill transferred to Wichita in 1960, and was assigned later that year to the Patrol’s Kansas Turnpike detail. In 1961, he was sent to attend the Northwestern University Traffic Institute in Evanston, Illinois. Hill was promoted to Lieutenant in 1962, and transferred off the Turnpike, continuing his service in Wichita.

He returned to the Turnpike detail in 1965, and continued his supervisory duties there until his death.

On May 28, 1967, Hill was driving east on the Kansas Turnpike near Andover in a heavy rainstorm. A car being towed by another vehicle traveling westbound on the Turnpike jackknifed on the slick surface and broke loose. Both westbound vehicles crossed the median, the towing car overturned, caught fire and struck Hill’s patrol car head on. The driver of the car was seriously injured and his passenger was killed in the collision. Lieutenant Hill was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Lieutenant Hill was survived by a wife and 2 children.

The portion of United States highway 59 from its junction with United States highway 56, then north to the southern city limits of the city of Lawrence, is hereby designated as the Lieutenant Bernard C. Hill memorial highway.