Dear people of St. Mark’s,
It is with much sadness I write to share the news that Fr. Michael Hiller has died, this morning at 8:30am. He had been moved recently to hospice care at Aegis Senior Living in South San Francisco, where Arthur now also lives in their memory care unit. Fr. Hiller’s final illness was mercifully brief, but as many of you know, his health had been weakening for years. In the end his heart, for whose many ministrations St. Mark’s will always be grateful, simply could not carry on any longer, and the rest of his body quickly followed suit.
For the last seven years, Fr. Hiller was a beloved priest associate at St. Mark’s, and a dear colleague to me. For most of those years he took the Friday 12:10 Eucharist, and was a regular presence in the pulpit and at the altar on Sundays; he just preached our annual All Souls requiem barely eight weeks ago. From 2016 to early 2018 he was the parish’s interim rector before I was called in January 2018; then he was interim again from 2011-2013 before my predecessor Corrie Lassen was called. Through all of these past 14 years, he has been well-known and well-loved at St. Mark’s, especially for his thoughtful preaching and his warm pastoral presence.
Before being received into the Episcopal Church in 2008, Fr. Hiller was the long-serving pastor of St. Francis’ Lutheran Church in San Francisco. There are countless people, then, whose lives he has touched for good, and they will all be mourning this loss. As you pray for the repose of his soul, know that you join a great chorus of those likewise praying. Please remember especially the family members he leaves behind, especially his husband, daughter, and sister. Look for more news from the parish office when funeral arrangements have been made.
In the meantime, it strikes me that Jan 1 is perhaps a fitting day for his passing, with layers of overlapping symbolism: the eighth day (octave) of Christmas, the feast of the Holy Name, and New Year’s Day. Fr. Hiller is now born into those heavenly realms whose Sun shall know no setting. May He whose Name the angels sing receive him gently into his rest.
Yours faithfully,
Fr. Blake
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