Gertrude "Trudy" Hill

Gertrude (Trudy) Hill passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 13, 2022, at the age of 97 in her home at the Bishop Gadsden Retirement Community in Charleston, SC. Trudy and her husband Carmen Hill resided in Lehighton, PA from 1949-1991 and raised their daughter, Joanne, and son, Gary, there.

Trudy was born in Tamaqua and as a child lived in Jim Thorpe with her parents Vincent and Josephine Berzinskas, older brother, Vincent, and sister, Monica (both deceased). Shortly after WWII, Trudy married Carmen Hill of Lehighton, a widely followed local musician (keyboards and trumpet), who worked as an equipment installer for Western Electric, based in Allentown.

Trudy gave up her early career as a beautician to become a homemaker. She was an avid Phillies fan and an active member of Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Church. She enjoyed golf with her husband Carmen and their friends, games and game shows, gardening, sewing, and baking delicious desserts. She also spent many happy times with the extended Hill family and her sister Monica Baldoni and family of Shippensburg, PA. In 1991 Trudy and Carmen moved from Lehighton to the Highland Fairways retirement community in Lakeland, FL. They continued to spend summers and holidays with their daughter and son’s families in NJ and PA. Carmen passed away at the age of 83 in 2003. Trudy continued to reside in Florida until 2015 when she moved to the Bishop Gadsden retirement community in Charleston, S.C., near her daughter. The staff at Bishop Gadsden were extremely helpful in making Trudy’s final years comfortable and enjoyable.

Trudy will be lovingly remembered by her daughter, Joanne Hill, and her husband, Joseph Liro, of Kiawah, SC, and by her son, Gary Hill, and his wife, Pamela Hurst Hill, of Royersford, PA. She also shared many good times with her granddaughter Madeline (Liro) Candela, husband Logan, and their son Sawyer (2 ¾ years old) who lived nearby in Charleston, SC. Trudy’s grandson Ryan Hill, son of Gary, resides in Meyerstown, PA.

The family is planning a graveside ceremony at Saints Peter and Paul Roman Catholic Cemetery in Lehighton, PA at a future date.

Contributions can be made in memory of Gertrude Hill to Bishop Gadsden, designating the Employee Appreciation Fund https://www.bishopgadsden.org/giving/, or to the Charleston Jazz Orchestra.

Expressions of sympathy may be viewed or submitted online at mcalister-smith.com/.

Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to McAlister-Smith Funeral and Cremation, James Island, 347 Folly Rd, Charleston, SC 29412, (843) 614-8494.