HINMAN 50th

Bill and Nita Hinman “celebrated” their 50th anniversary June 11, 2020, with takeout from Olive Garden in a park in Yakima, Washington, near their home.

Bill, a 27-year old junior high music teacher, met Nita (Yeager) Martin, a single mother, when Bill was hired as choir director and Nita was hired as the organist at Thornton Presbyterian Church near Denver, Colorado. Their first date was five days before Nita gave birth to her son from a previous marriage.

Bill had been an intelligence officer in the Air Force (who loved “jumping out of perfectly good airplanes”) and planned to make it a career until Type 1 diabetes derailed his plans. He was devastated at the time but knows now it was part of God’s plan.

Bill and Nita were married in the same Presbyterian Church where they had been employed. Bill then became an instant father to 7-year-old Michele and 15-month-old Stefan, whom he later adopted. For the next five years, Bill taught band and choir at a junior high and high school in the Denver area.

Nita, an Adventist, knew they were unequally yoked but didn’t realize how unequally until they started discussing religion. Bill didn’t believe Jesus was divine or that the Bible was inspired. More interested in New Age philosophy, Bill even had his own guru before marriage. He did, however, support her in keeping the Sabbath and attended church with her and the children when possible.

Thankfully, Bear Creek Presbyterian Church, where Bill was choir director, paid the couple's way to Bill Gothard’s Basic Youth Conflicts in Denver. This convinced Bill the Bible was inspired and led to Bible studies in the Chapel Haven (Colorado) Seventh-day Adventist Church. Nita was overjoyed when Bill, along with their daughter, Michele, was baptized in 1975.

Following his baptism, Bill was hired by the Rocky Mountain Conference as band/instrument teacher at Mile High and Campion academies, then as MHA principal. This was followed by service as Maplewood Academy (Minnesota) treasurer, Alaska Conference education superintendent, Union Springs (New York) Academy principal; New York Conference education superintendent and, finally, principal at Yakima Adventist Christian Academy. Bill retired for medical reasons in 2004.

Nita stayed at home with their children, to which they added a third, until the kids were in school. She spent two years as piano/organ teacher at Campion and Alaska Magazine receptionist. She also worked as a secretary for Porter Hospital, Denver South Church, 3M, MWA, Alaska and New York conferences, and Yakima Adventist Church, since moving to Yakima in 2001. She has also been an organist for 11 different denominations, though mostly for Lutheran and Seventh-day Adventist — where she still plays.

The Hinman family includes three children, Michele Myers of Yakima; Stefan Hinman of Wasilla, Alaska; Nicole and Jon Heisler of Enumclaw, Washington; and 7 grandchildren.