Paul Joseph Hill has the heart of a public servant.
He served 24 years in the Air Force and retired as a master sergeant from the Little Rock Air Force Base in 2002. Now a resident of Beebe, he is involved in a program that helps his fellow veterans.
Hill, 59, is executive director of the White County Veterans Affairs-Clergy Project and Community Action Board. He holds a Master of Theology degree from the Memphis Theological Seminary and has served as the adult discipleship minister at Searcy First United Methodist Church and as pastor at the Garner and McRae United Methodist churches.
“The White County VA-Clergy Project is a community-based resource hub that partners with the VA, local mental health care providers, NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) and their communities,” Hill said. “We support these first-line responders who meet the mental, spiritual and social needs of current and former service members and their families.”
Shane Russell, program support assistant with the VA Community Clergy Training Program at the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System-Towbin Center, 2200 Fort Roots Drive in North Little Rock, said the White County VA-Clergy Partnership is part of a larger project.
“The partnership was funded initially by the Veterans Health Administration Office of Rural Health,” Russell said. “It has evolved into the Community Clergy Training Program. It started in Arkansas in 2008 in El Dorado. We currently have partnerships in El Dorado, Hot Springs, Jonesboro, Russellville, Searcy and in the Jacksonville area.
“We are helping cast a wider net for the care of veterans,” Russell said. “Paul is an integral part of that effort in White County. We are glad to have him in that leadership role.”
Hill said the White County VA-Clergy Partnership and Community Action Board is working “to develop and maintain a resource directory for our partners.
“Our other goals include developing and fostering relations with and between our partners and other NGOs who serve our veterans and their families; developing, implementing and supporting local informational outreach programs on issues pertinent to veterans and their families; and encouraging development and offering support to veteran-centered small groups in our communities.”
Hill said veterans often come home “broken.”
“War is hell,” he said. “Not all war wounds are visible.
“PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) … the moral injury … is my focus now,” he said. “When these men and women come home from war, they are often seen as either heroes or monsters. Our job is to help them readjust to life in their communities. Our job is to train pastors and others as ‘first responders’ to our veterans.”
Bill Morton, an Army veteran, works with the Veterans Outreach Ministries Center in Searcy and works with Hill on the VA-Clergy Partnership and Community Action Board.
“Paul Hill is a great guy,” he said. “I sometimes give him a hard time, but he is doing a good job with this partnership. We meet once a week with several others and try to see how we can help our fellow vets.
“I do [public relations] for the Veterans Outreach and for the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association,” Morton said. “I do the same thing with all of these groups — shake the trees, try to get a leaf to fall and tell that veteran where to go for help.”
Hill was born in Compton, California, and lived in California until he joined the Air Force. He graduated from Sweetwater High School in National City, California.
“I went to a junior college for a year. That was like an extension of high school. I still did not know what I wanted to do when I joined the Air Force. The recruiter got me when he said I could get a college education and see the world. I stayed in for 24 years and went to college on the GI bill when I got out,” Hill said.
“I have been around the world several times. I went into the Air Force as an airman basic and came out as an E-7 or master sergeant. I spent nine years as an aircraft mechanic and 15 years as a flight engineer. I’ve been very blessed,” he said.
“After I got out of the military, I realized the thing I enjoyed most was not the military itself but the public service. I liked serving my country. … I think everybody should serve our country,” Hill said.
“After I retired, I was praying to God to point me in the direction of service to my country and to have a job. I saw the sign, ‘Beebe … your dream hometown. I thought, ‘OK, God, you’ve sent me here,’” he said, smiling.
“So I moved here, and now I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. I love this town,” Hill said.
“I really love public service, but I don’t care for politics. A friend called me and told me I should run for the city clerk-treasurer position in Beebe. I was elected in 2002 and began my four-year term on Jan. 1, 2003. I really loved the job. During the last year of my term, I was accepted to the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service and was also a lay pastor in the Methodist Church. There was just so much happening in my life,” he said.
“I graduated from the second class of the Clinton School in 2011 with a Master of Leadership and Public Service degree. It is a very prestigious honor to be accepted to that school. … People from all over the world come there. I loved it. I made some wonderful friends in Arkansas and beyond,” Hill said.
“Before I was accepted to the Clinton School, I had decided I wanted to study religion,” he said. “I visited several seminaries and chose Memphis Theological Seminary.
“I got a job at Searcy First United Methodist Church as the adult discipleship minister. I was there for three years and realized there was no room for promotion for me. God closed that door for me and opened another one. I am now working with veterans.”
When Hill is not working with the veterans project, he is involved in other community projects. Most recently, he played the part of Kris Kringle in Center on the Square’s production of Miracle on 34th Street, the Play, which closes today at the Searcy venue.
“We had record audiences,” he said, laughing. “It was an amazing experience.”
He also has constructed a Little Free Library near the driveway of the home he shares with his wife of five years, Tricia. He invites his neighbors “to take a book … share a book.”
“We are all growing in Christ,” Hill said. “If you read the Scriptures, you know we are supposed to love our neighbors as ourselves. We take that seriously and respond however we can.”