Pitt professor remembers her brother who died in Ukraine aiding people in need

The way Jimmy Hill lived his life is a complete contrast to the way he lost it — amid Russian bombing in a weeks-long invasion of Ukraine.

Katya Hill, a University of Pittsburgh professor, on Saturday said her brother had befriended a woman with four children who lived near the Ukrainian hospital where his life partner was being treated for multiple sclerosis.

Jimmy Hill, 68, and the woman on Thursday ventured out in Chernihiv to find buses helping residents escape the Russian onslaught.

There were 1,000 people in line, Katya Hill said.

“My brother decided to turn back, go back to the hospital, to Irina (Teslenko)’s side, and that’s when the bomb hit,” she said, referring to his life partner.

Days later, the family is still searching for answers. They don’t know what happened to his body or where he is now. But they do know he was helping others navigate the intense situation right up until his death.

“There is an irony here, but I haven’t been able to process that — of what’s going on (related) to how he lived his life,” said Hill. She is co-founder of the AAC Institute in Carnegie, which is a nonprofit that aids people who have communication challenges.

Jimmy Hill, a native of Eveleth, Minnesota, was living in Driggs, Idaho. He taught social work, psychology and forensic psychology at universities around Austria, Germany, Poland, Finland and Ukraine, according to his sister and The Associated Press.

Heavy Russian air attacks and ground fire were reported in Chernihiv on Thursday, with dozens being killed.

Millions of Ukrainians have been displaced or fled since the invasion started Feb. 24 and those remaining have faced a lack of food, water and other basic necessities. Thousands of civilians have been killed, the AP has reported.

Hill is one of two American citizens whose deaths in Ukraine during the Russian attack have been reported. Family members described him as a gentle, humorous man who strived to bring people together and help anyone in need.

Initial reports indicated he was killed by a bomb while waiting in a bread line, but Katya Hill said Saturday morning that the State Department provided the family with new details. She last spoke with her younger brother by phone for an hour three weeks ago.

“I know when I was talking to him on the phone I was hearing bombs going off in the background,” she said. “There were no military reasons for those bombs to be even close to the hospital; it was all a civilian area.”

Jimmy Hill was at the Chernihiv hospital to be at Teslenko’s bedside. As her condition was worsening with the Russian invasion looming, he was determined to get her help.

He felt confident “that the world wouldn’t let” the fighting happen and refused his sister’s suggestions to postpone treatment, his sister said.

“Then the bombing started.”

Even as the world got scary, Hill was “ever the helper” — waiting in store and bread lines, bringing back treats for the nurses and befriending Katrina, trying to assist her and others get to safety, she said.

“He was making plans for getting out” and considered putting up Ukrainians at rental properties he has in Idaho and Montana.

“He wasn’t thinking of a possibility of this happening; at least he wasn’t sharing that,” she said.

The siblings stayed in touch during the fighting through messages, some of which would wake Katya Hill in the middle of the night because of the six-hour time difference. He would tell her the bombing was getting worse, closer.

“When I’d wake up, the first thing I would do is check, and his message would be ‘Made it through the night, still alive,’” she said. “For me, personally, … just the stress of going through those days was enormous. But he remained positive.”

His social media posts in the days preceding his death indicated the situation was getting dire as he remained with Teslenko.

Now, Katya Hill said the family is trying to work out arrangements to get his life partner out of the city to her parents’ home. But it may not be possible, she said.

“Certainly, my brother sacrificed his life for her,” she said. “It’s a beautiful love story but, unfortunately, it has a tragic ending.”