Dennis Hill, 73, of Ray, ND passed away on Tuesday, July 22, 2025 at the Tioga Medical Center in Tioga, ND.

Dennis Michael Hill was born November 24, 1951 in Williston, North Dakota to Don and Arlene Hill of rural Ray. He was the first of three kids, and the only son.

He started kindergarten in Southern California, then spent most of his elementary and junior high years back in Williston. His high school years were spent in Walla Walla, Washington And Milton – Freewater, Oregon, where he graduated in 1969. After graduation, he landed his first major job. He worked for the custom combining crew that harvested his maternal grandma‘s farm near Alamo, North Dakota. They started in Kansas and worked their way up to North Dakota. Through his lifetime, he had a wide variety of jobs, including, but not limited to, working on a horse farm, a neon sign company, building trusses, roughnecking on drilling rigs, and other oil field jobs.

As a kid, he was small in size, but loved playing baseball and basketball. As an adult, it was golfing and softball. He watched just about every sport there was on TV, and was an AVID Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Vikings, and NDSU Bison fan. He rarely missed watching those three teams.

Having no kids of his own, his five nieces and nephews, 12 grand-nieces and nephews were the most important part of his life. He was very interested in their activities, especially sports. He had starbursts on hand at all times, earning him the title of “Uncle Starburst”. He invented a special game for them, that was played after gift opening on Christmas Eve. It involved envelopes with various amounts of money in them, ranging from $50-$200, and switch-a-roo with the envelopes (and sometimes a deck of cards). You would never end up with the envelope you started with, and it was a big highlight of the night. He spent many hours every year, changing how it was played.

He also liked fishing and hunting of all kinds. He had a lot of knowledge about animals, such as knowing mating seasons for lots of animals, the kind of habitat they hung out in, and most of all eating them. Elk was his favorite meal.

He had a wonderful core of good friends. They spent a lot of quality time “solving world problems” at their favorite hangout, Buster’s Bar. They also spent a fair amount of time hunting and golfing until Dennis‘s health issues began taking over.

Dennis then moved to Ray to be close to his sister and brother-in-law and their family. He had an apartment in Ray for a few years, then moved out to the Olson farm when Debbie and Randy moved there in 2020. He lived independently in his own little trailer and spent the last few winters with them in Bullhead City Arizona. He played a lot of Keno across the river in Laughlin, Nevada, and very much enjoyed that. He loved living at the farm on the dam. He recently said it is the very favorite place that he has ever lived. He spent countless hours looking out his window and sitting on his porch, watching the wildlife in all four seasons. His cremains will rest there.

He was a much loved big brother to Debbie (Randy) Olson, Ray, Uncle to Neil Storhaug, and Nicole (Michael) Berg, all of Zahl, Ryan Olson, Ray, Jodie (Adam) Dittus, Bemidji, MN, and Andy (Kaycee) Olson, Garrison. Great-Uncle to Cole and Logan Berg, Hayden Slikker, Lucas and Abby Olson, Aiden, Jada, and Josie Violette Dittus, And Reya, Saylor, Brooks, and Tatum Olson. Great-great Uncle to Willow Mills. He also has numerous cousins on both sides of his family and his special core of friends.

In heaven, Dennis is reunited with his Mom and Dad, his loving sister Terry Storhaug and her husband Steve, several good friends and many more family members.

His family sends heartfelt thanks to ALL the employees of the Leonard B. Nelson Cancer Center in Williston. They took wonderful care of him for nearly 11 years, and he thought the world of all of you special people. Kathy Waitman, you own a piece of his heart. Thanks also to Tioga, Medical Center and Shelby Knox, for making his last days as comfortable as possible.

God Bless the memory of Dennis Michael Hill. Dennis requested no service. A family and friends gathering will be held at a later date.

Fulkerson Stevenson Funeral Home of Tioga, ND is assisting the family. Friends may sign the register and give their condolences at www.fulkersons.com.