Mourning the Passing of Friends: Forthcoming Funeral Service

"What we have once enjoyed we can never lose. 

All that we love deeply becomes a part of us.”

~ Helen Keller

Sterling Hill

sterling: (adj.) of highest quality, outstanding integrity.

Sterling Cornaby Hill, born Jan. 16, 1944 in Payson UT to LeRoy and Eva Cornaby Hill arrived Home August 10, 2022, hastened there by myelodysplastic syndrome.

His name defined him through and through. Sterling’s “David O. McKay hair,” example of quiet commitment to the Lord, unconditional love, honesty, and leadership through being innately good was what people remember about him. He also had an easy smile that invited you in, relishing making connections with people. Once that happened, you were always his friend. He sincerely cared for others, and they always knew it.

While in high school, Sterling was chosen to represent his beloved Payson in

Leadership Academy, staying in the home of Elder Richard L. Evans. He graduated

from Payson High School as salutatorian in 1962. Serving in the New Zealand

Auckland Mission left a lifelong heartprint on him, loving the land and its people. He

returned there many years later, reconnecting with people he’d met.

Sterling met Judy Christiansen in high school, playing piano and organ duets with her in their early years, and married her in the Manti Temple in 1967, dating her for 61 years, 55 of those being married. They have been a united team, best friends.

Attending both BYU and the U, he graduated from BYU with a BS. IBM in San Jose, CA hired him to work as a manufacturing engineer immediately after Computers weren’t even taught in colleges then, but Sterling was soon asked to become a programmer, which he dearly loved! Teaming with his ability to work with people, he worked most of his years as a well-respected manager there, retiring from the industry in 2008.

His deepest interest was his family, which grew to include daughter Christy and son

David. He was their biggest cheerleader, whether it was in sports, school, dancing,

fixing cars, taking bike rides, listening to their joy or woes with real intent. He was

always there for them. There were also “unofficial” children who lived with the family, whether they needed help, a place to work out problems, or somewhere to stay.

Missionaries lived with them for about 6 years, and those relationships are still

treasured.

He also enjoyed singing, his tenor voice blending in many choirs, choruses, and his

favorite of all, barbershop quartets. Their children were lulled to sleep many a night to the strains of “I Want a Girl” and “Side by Side” as the quartet would practice at home.

He was known to show up at Judy’s school classes for Valentine’s or her birthday, his quartet singing to her in front of her students. Teenagers would join them to sing around their player piano. He also enjoyed biking, and the family joined a group who biked (10-speed) from San Jose to Disneyland along Highway 1, as well as from Aberdeen, WA to Vancouver, Canada. Refinishing furniture, restoring pump organs, and travel were also his loves. Whether it be to the Grand Canyon, New England, or to Israel (where he sang in a chorale), Finland, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, or Nauvoo, he loved seeing new places and took joy in meeting new people. It was not uncommon for him to “run into” someone who had a connection no matter where he went.

Because of his love of music, Sterling was often called to be a chorister or choir

director. Between bringing joy through music and his affable personality, many enjoyed the experiences he brought. He also served in countless Church leadership positions, with his time as Bishop, Executive Director of a Remote Girl’s Camp for 7 stakes, Temple Worker, Sealer, Assistant Recorder, and 1 st Counselor in the Oakland Temple Presidency for 3.3 years, and as a service missionary in both the Family History and California Living History Mission being his most memorable. Sterling deeply loved the temple and a great connection to the Lord all his life, and his deepest thrill was being able to perform the sealings for 2 of his grandchildren.

Family members who remain on Earth are his wife Judy, children Christy and David

(Mary Ann), grandchildren Joshua, Jaron, Adrienne, Jordan, Kaitlyn, Owen, and Evelyn; siblings Gerald (Margie) and Joyce (Tim). Welcoming him when he arrived Home were his parents.

Funeral services will be conducted by Utah Valley Mortuary, with a viewing Friday,

August 19 at 700 West 2600 North, Lehi from 6-8 pm, as well as Saturday, August 20 from 9:00-10:15 a.m. in the same location Funeral services will follow at 11 a.m.

Interment Lehi City Cemetery. To view services via livestream, please visit

utahvalleyfuneral.com under Sterling’s obituary.

Special thanks to the staff at American Fork Hospital and Pointe Meadow Rehab for their kind care. In lieu of flowers, the family requests you dedicate time and care to family history or temple service in his memory. That would make him smile!