Remembering Burton Hillis

I’m always amazed at how we are affected by unexpected events in our lives. Even the expected events can cause unexpected reactions.  We believe that we have weathered specific storms without undue damage & in most cases that seems to be true. Children, however, are very different. While outwardly they seem composed, accepting & adapting, inwardly unexpected events can cause trauma that lasts a lifetime.

As a 6-year-old who very suddenly lost her 40-year-old dad to a heart attack, I was affected in a number of ways; not merely by the loss of a parent but by the abrupt changes that loss brought about in my life.

My mom & I moved in with her mother; my grandmother. A woman who raised 8 children during the depression & gave birth to 9 (one died in infancy), my grandmother had her own traumatic baggage. She became my caregiver while my mother worked. The family dynamic was unusual & quite different from that of the kids I was friends with in elementary school.

Wanting desperately to be as “normal” as my friends, I invented a father & a little brother & shared anecdotes about them in first grade “Show & Tell.” I drew ‘happy family’ pictures of the 4 of us when we had “art & drawing time.” In today’s world a teacher or group of teachers would have brought my behavior to my mom’s attention with a strong suggestion that I receive counseling. But that happened in yesterday’s world & I lived out my classroom fantasies, desperately wishing they were true.

If you are a writer or a blogger or a freelancer – someone who writes stuff that is read by other people, eventually someone will ask you, “Who influenced you?  Did anyone’s writing style influence yours?” After recently having a short story published in Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inspiration for Nurses someone DID ask me that question. I answered without hesitation, “Burton Hillis,” & realized I hadn’t thought about him or even his name in decades.

Back in the day, as one of her few luxuries my mom subscribed to Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. Since she had ingrained in me at a very early age a love of reading, I couldn’t wait for the magazine to arrive in our mailbox once a month. It wasn’t the pictures of gardens & beautiful homes that intrigued me. I would rush past those to the last page where Burton Hillis had a monthly column. I devoured every word.

Mr. Hillis wrote in a simple style that made it seem as though he were “talking” to the reader; telling you a story. And most of his stories were about his wife or his kids or his job… & once even about his dog. His stories were a window into the world of “normal” that I so fervently craved.

He wrote about a child riding a bicycle, his wife cooking a meal & leaving out an ingredient, his dog jumping on the table in the middle of a family picnic. His style was conversational & intriguing & he made even the simplest experiences exciting or funny…relating to the reader life as he saw it.

I absorbed every word & loved the way reading his columns made me feel like he was speaking directly TO me.  No flowery descriptions, no innuendos or guessing games, he spoke directly to me through his written words in a way that I clearly understood. Once a month his columns gave me an almost personal tour into his life &, more importantly, into “normal.”  I loved those columns, the way they made me feel; the special gifts Mr. Hillis gave me once a month from the last page of a periodical.

After answering, “Burton Hillis,”  to the question about my writing style & who had influenced me, I decided to do a little research into the man who had apparently helped me in some way to achieve a semblance of success as an author, freelancer & blogger.

Burton Hillis was a pseudonym for the author & columnist, William E. Vaughan. He wrote a syndicated column in the Kansas City Star, in Reader’s Digest & Better Homes & Gardens.

His folksy aphorisms (published in his “Starbeams” feature) are often collected in books and on Internet sites. (Wikipedia)

Mr. Vaughan, aka Burton Hillis, according to Wikipedia was also appreciated for his often repeated quotes such as:

• “A real patriot is the fellow who gets a parking ticket and rejoices that the system works.”
• “Size isn’t everything. The whale is endangered, while the ant continues to do just fine.”
• “If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist, it’s another nonconformist who doesn’t conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity.”
• “Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.”

Bill Vaughan died in 1977 of lung cancer at the age of 62. He is remembered as a columnist & author, for specific quotes & specific columns & the joy he brought to those who read them.

I remember Burton Hillis who took me monthly into HIS world & for a moment in time allowed me to play there in a make believe “normal” world of my own. Maybe in some small way his simple narrative came through to me as my dad talking to me; telling me a story about life & the way the world was supposed to be.

If any of my writing ability can be credited to Mr. Hillis, then I am forever grateful to him as an adult in my adult world. His columns wrapped warmly around me & sheltered me once a month from my unexpected reality.

Because of this, I wanted to write about him; to tell those who don’t remember him about him… to share how his columns helped a bewildered child.  Most of all, I simply wanted to remember Burton Hillis.

Bill Vaughan died in 1977. Burton Hillis lives on in my memory ….