Margaret Mae "Margie" Hillyer

Born on October 23, 1925, in Deer River, Itasca Co., Minnesota, Margie was the youngest of ten children born to Peter & Lena (Zupan) Kossow
In 1940 she and her parents moved to California.
She graduated from Gridley Union High School, Gridley, California in 1943.
She worked as a secretary at Mare Island Naval Ship Yard in Vallejo, California for a time during WW II and as a psychiatric nurse after the war.

She married Acea D. Rollins on February 22, 1958. They had a daughter, Mary, and lived in Goodyears Bar, Calif., until moving to Fort Yukon, Alaska in January 1967 where they and another couple formed a partnership and purchased Fort Yukon Utilities, a company that provided electricity, runway & road maintenance and construction, along with the oil and gas concession for the village. Margie assisted in the running of the business, handling much of the office work, and serving as an electrical meter reader. She was an active member of the Fort Yukon Assemblies of God church for many years.

In 1979, believing that a sale of the business was in the making, they purchased a home on the Kenai Peninsula a few miles south of Ninilchik. Margie and their daughter Mary moved there in the fall of 1979 so that Mary could attend high school. When the sale of the business fell through, the family split their time between Fort Yukon and Ninilchik until 1983, when they finally sold the business and Acea and Margie moved full time to Ninilchik. Margie continued to remain very active in her church there.

Acea passed away in 2007 and on January 5, 2013, Margie married Stephen Hillyer. Steve passed away in 2019.

She was preceded in death by her husbands Acea D Rollins & Stephen H. Hillyer; parents, Peter & Lena Kossow; 2 brothers, Lawrence E. & John E. Kossow; 7 sisters, Marie O. Cartwright, Katherina H. Kossow, Louise E. Myers, Leona H. Martin, Lena K. Hart, Evelyn B. Beers and Irene M. Root; and granddaughter Shelby N. Thielemann

She is survived by her daughter Mary Thielemann of Salisbury, NC; grandchildren Michael Thielemann Jr. (& wife Christine), Amber M. Thielemann and Christopher A. Thielemann, all of Anchorage, Alaska; great-granddaughters Harper A. Leach & Mila K. Thielemann and great-grandsons Liam Z. & Malek L. Thielemann and numerous nieces and nephews.

A small memorial service and scattering of her ashes will take place in July of 2023.