Although Richard Hill might not have been too enthusiastic about spending his eighth and ninth grades at Ponca Military Academy in 1968 and 1969 because of minor discipline problems, he grew to respect the instructors particularly Captain and Major Moore and Jim Self, who he recalls had a flat top haircut. His buddies were fellow cadets Richard Smith, Steve Hill and Jim Bowersox.
With tongue in cheek, he recalls the reason he was attending, "I was, by today's standard, a modest discipline problem. I had the misfortune of having had relatives and family friends attend PMA and they gave it a ringing and enthusiastic endorsement that resulted in my attendance."
Hill commented, "The one thing you could count on at PMA was actions had consequences. We had a study hall every day and evening, but if you were on the honor roll, you didn't have to do the study hall. As soon as I realized how easy it was to get on the honor roll and have that extra leisure time, I made sure my marks were high enough to qualify."
He says about doing time marching around the flagpole, "Yes, I did time and if other cadets say they didn't — their memory is much worse than mine." Hill had a couple of run-ins with some of the instructors, but says he chooses to "let sleeping dogs lie." Richard said it had been 40 some years since he attended PMA. He couldn't recall the woman spelling teacher's name but recalled she was helpful.
A funny incident Hill recalls, is there were about 140-150 boys attending at any given time. Sports were a popular diversion and most everyone participated. I played football for the eighth and ninth grade teams.
"At the end of the season we played the varsity team. I had lined up to defend against a friend Steve Hill. He caught a kick off and was running it down field and I decided blast through him with a tackle.
"Steve was considerably larger than I was, so we collided and I was knocked out cold. I awoke to see everyone standing over me asking 'are you okay?'"
Richard graduated from Northwest Classen in Oklahoma City in 1973. His wife of 33 years Janet McGee Hill was in the beauty business, and together they started Eden Salon and Spa in 1982 and have three locations in Oklahoma City with 36 employees. "We are quite happy, but we don't get nearly enough travel time in," Hill said.
The couple has two children, a son and a daughter. The daughter is expecting the Hill's first grandchild.
Hill is planning on attending the next PMA reunion in September.
