IN MEMORY

John Carl Hilty

John Carl Hilty



 
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03/01/17 08:34 PM #1    

Jim Tripp

There is no question that John Hilty could be one of the funniest guys on the planet. We played varsity football together and spent many hours in the woods hunting. He was an avid hunter and we spent many days hunting at his parents ranch in Bristol, MI.

BUT I want to share an experience that John & I had together,,totally NOT funny,,,We were 20 years old, not old enough to drink in Micigan. Some how John got his mom's late model Lincoln and we found ourselves out on I-75 heading to Toledo, Ohio. Drinking age with ID there was 18 years old. Of course we had to-o-o much to drink and started heading BACK to Birmingham about 3am. We are clipping along about 80 MPH, John falls asleep at the wheel. We smack the left guard rail, do a COMPETE 180 degree spin out, blow all leftt side tires and come to rest on the side of the road still heading north.  WOW !

We start walking towards the closest exit. Un-like today's traffic there was absolutely NO traffic any where on I-75. Probably a 4 mile hike in the dark and an Ohio Police Paddy Wagon picks us up! We sat in the back on fold down seats and the cops took us to a Holiday Inn. Can you imagine THAT today??? A free trip to a hotel? No Ticket? No questions? GASP! (OHIO STATE FOOTBALL still sucks).

We didn't have enough cash (no credit cards in 1968) for a room so we slept on a couch in the lounge. John's mom (she was a school teacher) picked us up the next morning and took us home. Some how I don't think that was the END of our story as far as Mrs. Hilty was concerned!

John was married for a few years and his wife passed away. They owned a horse ranch together in Michigan.

John enjoyed cooking and was a master chef and a partner of a successful restaurant.


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