Carole Hillard: 1936 - 2007

Carole Hillard died like she would have wanted to - in the middle of an adventure, said her son, the Rev. Todd Hillard. Carole Hillard, a former South Dakota lieutenant governor, legislator and Rapid City Council member, died early last Thursday morning in a Swiss hospital of complications following a broken neck suffered in a sail-boating accident. Carole had made the boating trip with friends on the Adriatic Sea after traveling to Turkmenistan, where she had put on a conference on federalism.

Her life taught us that one person can make a big difference in the world and that each of us has a responsibility to make the world a better place. She started from the grass roots ... with community service in Rapid City. Carole helped coordinate a protection network for battered women before there was a women's shelter in Rapid City. "That was where she got her start, picking up battered women in the middle of the night and making sure they got a safe place to stay," Todd said.

After stints on the Rapid City Council and in the Legislature, Carole was elected lieutenant governor during the second two terms of Gov. Bill Janklow from 1995-2003. She was the first and only woman to ever hold this position. In addition to presiding over the Senate, she traveled the state to appear on Janklow's behalf at events big and small.In the last decade, In these last years Carole served as an international consultant, traveling to more than 60 countries on behalf of the U.S. State Department as well as nongovernmental organizations. Among many other things, she helped supervise the January elections in the West Bank and traveled to Afghanistan in March to help create small business in Kabul.

In one of her last emails to family she wrote, "So the question is -- are we not safer living the daring life? Is it better to be bird than a turtle as we sojourn thru life?"

May the faithful departed rest in peace until the Resurrection.