Hill, 75, died Dec. 31, 2025
BAKER CITY — Come April 4, Dan Forsea’s phone will be a bit quieter with birthday wishes.
On that day, Forsea never answered his phone just so he had a recording of his friend Tom Hill singing “Happy Birthday.”
“I’d leave my phone off so I could listen to the song and laugh,” Forsea said with a chuckle.
Hill, he said, “couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket.”
“It was a terrible sound — one year I swear I could hear a dog howling in the back,” he said. “I was looking forward to it this year.”
Dr. Tom Hill, a veterinarian in Baker City since 1975, died Dec. 31, 2025. He was 75.
A celebration of his life is planned for Jan. 23, 11 a.m., at the Baker City Nazarene Church. Homemade desserts are welcome for the reception, and those attending are encouraged to bring cards with stories and memories.
‘Indescribable’
Known as Dr. Tom, Hill’s professional skills greatly exceeded his singing talent.
“It’s almost indescribable what he meant to this community,” said Randy Crutcher, Hill’s friend and longtime vet client. “He was just such a pillar of the community, especially for the farming and ranching families. He’d come out day or night.”
Hill was born Feb. 3, 1950, in Salem. His family had a shorthorn cattle operation, and he showed bulls at livestock shows — in fact, according to his family, he was disqualified from the local county fair because he was considered a professional.
After high school, Hill enrolled at Oregon State University and quickly changed his major from engineering to veterinary medicine. He earned his doctorate at Colorado State University in 1975.
Baker City was on his route between Salem and Fort Collins, Colorado, so after graduation he stopped at Baker Veterinary Hospital and talked to Dr. Bill Kuhl, who offered him a job.
Hill joined the practice in September 1975. At first, his family said, Hill didn’t want to work on horses, but soon learned that a rural veterinarian cared for all animals — cows, dogs, cats, horses and even llamas.
He married his wife, Lynne, in 1979 and they saved money to buy a home in Wingville by 1988. They raised two kids, Lindy and Joe, and countless pets along with dairy replacement heifers and, later, Hereford and Angus cattle.
Focus on horses
For the last 10 years, Hill narrowed his focus to horses only.
“From the time I can remember, he was here, like my second dad,” said Duncan Mackenzie, who was born in 1999 but said Hill became his family’s vet around 1992. “Just a genuine guy.”
Even when an animal couldn’t be saved, Mackenzie said it was better with Hill around.
“Never a bad day with Tom,” he said. “It’s going to be a huge gap for Baker County, and the Pacific Northwest. A lot of people called him for advice.”
Crutcher remembers asking Hill, not long ago, when he was going to retire.
“He said, ‘I am retired. I only do what I want to do,’” Crutcher said. “He really loved his work.”
Hill was a member of the American Quarter Horse Association, the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association, the American Association for Equine Practitioners and the American Association of Bovine Practitioners. Over the years, he continued his education whenever possible — just last month he attended the American Equine Association’s annual meeting in Denver, Colorado.
“Every horse was his teacher, and each horse was an individual to him,” said Dee Myers, who is a horse trainer and teacher. “You can’t express what Tom meant to me or people in the valley — way more than a veterinarian.”
She spoke of Hill’s compassion when euthanization was necessary for her Paso Fino mare suffering from Cushing’s disease.
“Lots of respect for the horse, and respect for the human,” she said. “Tom was a horseman, beginning to end. He handled the good times, and really handled the hard times.”
She also asked him about retirement, and he told her, “I’m not going to retire. This is where I’ll be.”
“He lived and breathed his job,” she said.
‘A huge champion’
Savannah Kerns and her husband, Mark, grew up in Baker Valley and both have known Hill for years. As adults, she said Hill greatly supported their quarterhorse program.
“Tom has been a huge champion,” she said. “He was so proud of us, and our biggest cheerleader. He was a big person in our lives.”
In emergencies, she said Hill stayed calm.
“He never freaked out, never lost his cool,” she said.
His influence, she said, was felt across the county.
“This community has a lot of really nice horses and that’s because of Tom.”
His family said he offered help beyond veterinary medicine, such as advice on nutrition, minerals, herd health programs and calf survivability.
The lighter side
Forsea lives in Richland, and met Hill around 1976.
“We became friends pretty fast,” he said.
They’ve camped and hunted together since the mid 1980s.
“I was one of the fortunate ones to see the fun side of him, the kid side,” Forsea said. “I don’t know if one of us brought it out of the other or what.”
One time, they were looking for cattle in the Snake River country and coming home in a thick fog. Although Hill suspected they were going the wrong way, Forsea didn’t agree — he’d grown up riding those hills, after all.
“After two draws over, he was right — I was going in the wrong direction,” Forsea said, laughing at the memory.
And then a dried, spear-like mullein plant came flying past him.
“We had to stop and have a mullein fight,” he said. “The inner kid came out.”
They were both in their 40s, or maybe 50s, he said.
‘A really great guy’
Crutcher trusted Hill, and even brought his horses to Baker during the 10 years he lived in Hermiston while working for the Oregon State Police.
“You don’t find people like Tom every day,” he said. “He was really, really good at what he did.”
Hill was good with people, too.
“He was a really great guy,” Crutcher said. “I’m fortunate to have known him — you’re a better person for having known him.”
Rob and Lori Thomas sought Hill’s vet advice for 40 years.
“He had so many stories, and had seen so many things,” Rob Thomas said. “Every bit of consulting has been mostly through Tom. He’s just one of a kind.”