Hilary Hill © Albin Hillert/CEC

By Klaus Rieth

She is standing behind the reception desk and warmly welcoming the incoming delegates and guests of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) General Assembly. She is friendly and everybody feels at home when she is registering. Hilary Hill (70) likes her job. She just had to deal with an incoming coach of 24 people from all over Europe and now is expecting the next bus with up to 54 Assembly participants.

Hilary Hill is the wife of the CEC president, Rt Rev. Christopher Hill. “I was supposed to accompany my husband to this Assembly,” she says. “But I didn’t want to be doing nothing. So I offered to assist at the reception desk. I was willing to help.” Later she will support the staffs of documentation and communication.

The mother of four adult children and grandmother of five grandchildren started her duty already Tuesday, 29 May. After the Assembly she will go for holidays to Croatia together with her husband.

Asked what will happen when her husband will be retired from the presidency of CEC she says: “Then life will probably be a little quieter.” But until then she will continue to encourage and welcome the arriving Assembly participants.