| Katie Hill | |||
| Biography # 266 | email: | ||
Hello, pen friends, My first fountain pen (are there any other kind?) was Pelikan student pen that I acquired when I was an exchange student to France during my junior year of high school. (Dates are withheld to protect the innocent.) I still adore that pen although it has been retired from regular use due to a severe leaking problem. Since then I feel that I have been on a quest to "replace" that pen because it holds a lot of special meaning to me and writes like a dream. My collection grew a fair amount while I lived in Paris, France for five years immediately following my graduation from the University of Washington in Seattle. Thankfully for me, pens were easy to find and very affordable. I have an eclectic professional background, having worked as the managing director for a communications agency in Paris before working in international marketing for a software company in Seattle. I took a short break from a full-time career and went back to school for a law degree, which lead me to work as corporate counsel for a non-profit foundation serving foster children, also headquartered here in Seattle. Most recently I was employed doing strategic business development for an Internet company. I am now temporarily "retired" after being part of the e-commerce economy slowdown. The silver lining in all of this is that I have much more time now for writing with my fountain pens, going for long walks with my dogs, and working in my yard. While I was an undergraduate and in law school, fountain pens made taking class notes and writing exams a little less onerous. I love the connection that fountain pens make between the thought process and expression on paper. I don't have a theme to my collection, but rather have a magpie approach - I am drawn to a pen's writing characteristics, of course, but a unique body or finish will also attract me. Katie Hill selflessly helped needy children in her community, and she was noted for always being the first to lend a helping hand - literally to anyone. She also loved collecting fountain pens, a hobby she fell in love with during her early college years. On August 9, 2002, Katie lost her life while pursuing her passion of pen collecting. During her first visit to the nation's capital and to the Washington, DC Pen Show, Katie was mugged and shot to death. By all accounts, on August 9th, the world lost a beautiful soul, and Katie's pen collector family lost a wonderful friend. Katie's husband has set up the Katie Hill Fund to collect and distribute funds to Katie's favorite benevolent organizations. To help raise funds for this cause, Katie's fountain pen collector family has created the Katie Hill memorial fountain pen set. The set includes a fountain pen with custom engraving in memory of Katie, a note pad on which is printed a quote from one of her's recent letters to a friend, and commemorative ink blotters.
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