Kelly Renee Hill, lifelong North Sider who traveled world with Navy Reserve, dies at 57

When Kelly Renee Hill returned home from work, she came bearing Japanese kimonos for her two daughters and stories from international locales such as the Philippines.

Years into her job in the circulation department of the Star Tribune, Hill took an unexpected leap — she joined the U.S. Navy Reserve, which would send her across the globe for the next 17 years supporting military efforts such as both Gulf Wars and the war in Afghanistan.

"She really wanted something different for her life, especially as an African-American woman," said her daughter, DeRelle Morrison. "She was just a free spirit and an independent soul. It was just a dream to see the world and serve her country."

Family and friends said that drive was pervasive throughout Hill's life, manifesting itself in how she helped raise her younger siblings to how she juggled the reserve with a number of jobs in Minnesota and raising her daughters.

"It raised the standard for my life," Morrison said. "She was just so good at balancing it all."

Hill, a lifelong resident of north Minneapolis, died May 29 of cancer. She was 57.

Hill grew up the second oldest of five children in a single­-parent home. She cared for her younger brother and twin sisters throughout the summers while her older sister worked to help their mother, who had two jobs.

Hill graduated from West High School in 1979 and soon went to work at the Star Tribune. It was there in the 1980s that she befriended Jacqueline Simmons, who was already in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Hill followed Simmons into military service.

The women, both black, were eventually deployed to the U.S. Naval base at Subic Bay in the Philippines during Operation Desert Storm. They were in a group of 75 mostly white male reservists.

"To have that support when you're in foreign countries … you know that the person beside you has your back, there is nothing like it," Simmons said of Hill's friendship.

The two were trained to use firearms and carried them on occasion as they helped fill supply orders for military efforts on land and at sea. The women explored local communities, customs and foods in every country where they were stationed. "We wanted to have that cultural experience," Simmons said.

Hill spent several months in Bahrain during the war in Afghanistan. Her deployment was set to overlap with her younger daughter Brianna Hill's graduation from high school. Brianna came home from school one afternoon a month before her mom was supposed to return. An unexpected figure walked out of the basement — her mother.

Her family said she was awarded several commendations for her service, including the Armed Forces Reserve Medal, National Defense Service Medal and several others. Throughout her military service, she worked in accounting and finance at different local companies, and she also worked as a real estate agent for a time.

Hill also used her leadership and organization skills informally, helping her brother, Kevin Underwood, with budgeting and organizing her older sister Jacquelyn Underwood Smith's wedding.

"She looked out for me my whole life," Kevin said.

Hill is also survived by partner Christopher Ray Stringer; sister Janét Villagomez; half-siblings Georgia Underwood-Wright, Clarence Underwood IV and Leondria Jett-Rhea; and one granddaughter. She was preceded in death by both parents.

Services have been held.