Obituary of Ione B. Hile

   Having attained the age of one hundred years and five months, Ione B. Hile passed from this life on the morning of February 25, 2020.  Ione was born September 23, 1919, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and was the youngest of eight siblings surviving to adulthood (Richard, Catherine, Gertrude, Mary, William, Roy, Charlotte, and Ione; a ninth sibling, Paul, died in early infancy).  Her parents were Charles Elwood Beam and Elizabeth Caroline Beam (née Zipf).  

     Within a week of graduating from Johnstown High in 1937, Ione left her hometown for good, seizing on an opportunity to help a classmate's aunt to start a donut shop in Alexandria, Virginia.  The donut business was short lived, but a handsome young fan of the donuts, Allen Hile, captured Ione's heart, and they were married September 9, 1939. Thereafter, Ione made her permanent home in Alexandria for 81 years.  

     Ione's strength of character to do the right thing was unassailable.  Her wisdom, practicality, and common sense always guided her decisions and those of her family.  A coal miner's daughter, she and her Shenandoah Valley farm-boy husband started near zero in the depths of the Great Depression and, mostly through her sheer grit, determination, strength, and good sense, forged a rich and full life for themselves and their daughter, Peggy, and their son, Allen Jr.  

     Ione had a sharp, sometimes riotous, and frequently earthy sense of humor that may not always have been entirely consistent with her very strong Brethren Church beliefs. From the early 1950’s until her final illness incapacitated her, she was an active member, faithful supporter of and unfailing tither to the Grace Brethren church in Alexandria. She was extremely good hearted and generous, and an excellent friend to many, especially in her Del Ray neighborhood.  In retirement, after a career of more than 20 years in the federal government, she took great joy in volunteering at Alexandria Inova Hosptial where, among other duties, she and a few other volunteer grandmas rocked the newborns that would otherwise have lacked warm maternal contact because their mothers were indisposed by postpartum illness.  

     Ione was intolerant of laziness and low aspirations and imposed a high but achievable standard of honesty and civilized behavior on herself and those around her.  She was devoted to her children and her granddaughter, Marianne, and her grandson, Peter.  Peter returned Ione's devotion more than tenfold, selflessly attending to her day by day in her protracted struggle with dementia during the last decade and a half of her life.  Ione shared an especially loving bond with her sister, Gertrude, with whom she is hopefully meeting now somewhere in the stars.  She was--and is--truly unique and unforgetable.  Her family is so proud of her, and broken-hearted that she is no longer with them.  Services will be held Friday, March 6th at 10:30 a.m. at Parkwood Baptist Church, 8726 Braddock Rd., Annandale, Va. 22003 [(703) 978-8160].  Memorials may be made in the form of flowers, or donations to Capital Caring Hospice [www.capitalcaring.org] in memory of Ione B. Hile.