1. Name & occupation? King Hill
Occupation: Retired public and private school teacher of many years - Presently writer, stage director, acting coach, and Community/Public Relations Director for River Road Independent School District as well as serving as Writer/ Consultant for Lone Star Ballet.
2. What led you to Amarillo? I was born and for the most part am a lifelong resident of Amarillo with exceptions of some years for school, performing scholarships, and other ' endeavors' that took me away from my home. My wife and I have been permanent residents for over 40 years.
4. What is a memory you have about the region that is no longer here? I have many fond childhood memories of growing up in Amarillo and miss such things and places as Dolphin Swim lub, Evaleno's Hideaway, Dino's & Stanley's Drive-Ins, and most of all my Great Uncle Earl Burtz's Sad Monkey Railroad Attraction in Palo Duro Canyon State Park.
5. What are some events that happened in your life that made you who you are? There are many events in my life that have shaped who I am. My maternal grandfather was a cowboy, rancher, rodeo performer, and successful businessman who taught me how to rope, be a tile setter and bricklayer. and instilled me the meaning of ' a days work for a days pay'. He owned Barnard Tile Company in Amarillo. Another huge influence was and continues to be my late Father, Artist and Sculptor, Jack King Hill. He taught from a young age outdoor wilderness survival skills and a reverence for Nature. He took me with him in his art commissions to meet many descendants of great Comanche, Kiowa and Apache Chiefs, and Elders. My late mother was a librarian who challenged me to be a lifelong learner and to develop a curiosity and love for reading, writing. history and theatre.
Later in my early adolescence, a life-changing event was being selected by famed ballet Master and Director, Nikita Talin to become a Harkness Scholarship student and later protegé. I was fourteen years old when I left Amarillo and from that experience, I learned much about music, art, dance, theatre, Russia, Europe, and was given my first writing commission to create an original work titled "CARAVAGGIO" about the Renaissance artist. It was performed at the Bob Hope Theatre in Dallas and later with the Shreveport Symphony in Shreveport, LA. - It was in Dallas and the Harkness Program that I became dance partner and lifelong friend with Amarillo native and Artistic Director, Vicki McLean. We collaborate on shows once again.
6. Where would you spend all your time if you could? I would spend all my time in my home office with a fire in the fireplace, my wife, my dog, engaged in writing, researching, conceiving new projects.
7. Do you volunteer or sit on a board? Is yes where? I have in past years been a member of various boards; including serving as President of Lone Star Ballet. Presently, I prefer to now spend my time actively working in the community in education and the arts.
8. What are you most passionate about? I am most passionate about education, youth, the arts, writing, directing, and enjoying life with my wife and friends.
9. What is the strangest thing you've ever come across? The most fascinating and perhaps strangest thing I have encountered is the strong bond I had and continue to have with my father. He strongly believed in ESP and my wife and I can attest he still seems to communicate to me even after his death years ago, Many times when still alive he would communicate with me from miles away without the need of a phone or other forms of communication.
10. What do you wish Amarillo had or did not have? I wish Amarillo leaders, both business and civic had a stronger and better appreciation, understanding, and desire to to preserve and promote the history and the people who shaped not only Amarillo but our area.
11. What direction do you think Amarillo is headed? I am, to be honest, not sure what direction Amarillo is headed. I have hope, optimism that is both tempered with experience and knowledge of local politics and personal agendas. I would say I look through the lens of realism colored by experience in political realities.
12. What else should readers know about you? What else should the reader know about me? Well, as Twain and Hemingway eloquently put it, " rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated". I love (most) people, (all ) dogs, and as my friend and playwright, Don Nigro wrote of a character, " I am a man driven by an obsession, it is such people who get things done in this world."
