Nina Dean Hilton, nee Shook, died peacefully on Sunday, September 22, 2024 in Jasper after a long battle with Alzheimer’s.
Nina was born in Tennessee on November 2, 1940, and grew up in Haleyville, where she graduated from Haleyville High School in 1959. Nina married her high school sweetheart, Bernard Lexie Hilton, on July 5, 1959. Over the next few years, Nina and Lexie raised two children and started a business, Hilton Communications. On the day that Nina enrolled her youngest child in kindergarten, she also enrolled in college. She successfully juggled motherhood, the demands of a family-owned business and the rigors of college work, eventually graduating with honors from the University of North Alabama with degrees in accounting and finance and becoming a certified public accountant. Nina’s later years were filled with volunteer work for her church, several organizations in the Jasper area and lots of time with her much-adored grandchildren.
Nina was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Bernard Lexie Hilton, in 2023, and her son, Timothy Mark Hilton, in 2022.
She is survived by her daughter, Naomi Hilton Archer (James); her daughter-in-law, Tracy Franklin Hilton and her grandchildren Elisabeth Archer, Jay Archer, Josh Hilton and Kaeden Duke. She is also survived by her sister, Barbara Harbin; her sister-in-law, Kellon Phillips (Manus) and a bevy of much-loved nieces and nephews.
Nina was cremated, and her ashes will be sprinkled at a later date. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Sunday, October 13, 2024, at Highlands United Methodist Church, 1045 20th Street South, Birmingham, Alabama 35209. Kilgore-Green Funeral Home is assisting the family.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, memorials be sent to the Tim Hilton Foundation at Bradford Heath Services or to the Alabama Honduran Medical and Educational Network.
See complete story in the Northwest Alabamian.
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