Rescue and escape from the trappings of the deep snow in the high Sierra Nevada mountains had been grueling for Leanna Donner. At just 12 years old, she had witnessed and endured such horrors it would take her over 80 years to talk about it. Now, on the cusp of returning to safety, she sat and ate her second to last tiny ration of “jerky.”
After walking all day in the trail-breaking steps of the group leader through deep snow in the biting cold while starving on the edge of death, she looked at her last finger-sized piece of meat and gave in to her overwhelming hunger – eating her final ration before going to bed.
The next morning, as everyone else savored their morsels before the day’s hike, Leanna Donner regretted that decision. Her 14-year-old sister Elitha took pity on her.
“Her older sister was…really good to her. Everybody was sitting around eating their breakfast piece, and she felt really sorry for her. She broke her piece and gave half to my great-grandmother [Leanna],” said Patricia Heiskell Hillman.
Hillman, a 96-year-old Fresno State alumna and supporter, reflects on her family history. She said both Leanna and Elitha had enough strength to eventually make their way into the safety of the Sacramento Valley with several others.
Donner Party speech at Garden School in Tulare, 1993
The story of the Donner Party is taught as part of the fourth-grade curriculum in California. Every year, Hillman visits classrooms to tell the story of her great-grandmother, Leanna Donner App, providing a personal connection to a tragic but important part of California’s history.
“For fourth graders to hear that in her own words, I think, has a really profound effect on them, and it does on me every time I tell it,” said Hillman in a 2014 interview.
Valley roots
Hillman’s grandfather, Jefferson Davis Heiskell, moved to Tulare in 1886 to purchase a grain warehouse and start a livestock feed business. That business, J.D. Heiskell and Company, Inc., has grown over the years into a thriving international company.
Born in Tulare, Hillman grew up around the business her father and aunt inherited. She attended Tulare Union High School, and, following in the footsteps of her mother and sister, she enrolled at Fresno State just as World War II was coming to an end. A flute player, she joined the Bulldog Marching Band.
“There were not very many men because they were in the service. I usually played snare drum or flute, and I played bass drum in the marching band for a couple of years.”
In addition to the marching band, Hillman played flute in the Fresno State Symphony.
Senior portrait, 1949, Fresno State College
Fresno State Campus Queen, 1949, escorted by student body president Norman Rudy
Teacher and debate coach at Roosevelt High School in Fresno, 1952
Hillman graduated summa cum laude in 1949 with a double major in English speech and music in the College of Arts and Humanities.
Hillman taught at Roosevelt High School in Fresno for four years. While living in Fresno, she met Dale Hillman on a blind date, and they married a short time later. A few years older than Pat, Dale Hillman came from a walnut farming family in Tulare and had served in the Coast Guard during World War II.
Pat and Dale settled in Tulare. While Dale farmed, Pat became a kindergarten teacher. They had four children. While raising them, Pat worked as a substitute teacher. She later taught in a program for gifted children for several years. Additionally, she served on the board of directors of the family business, a position she still holds. After her father’s death, Dale became CEO of the company in 1972.
A legacy of support
Throughout her life, Pat Hillman has been deeply involved in her community in Tulare and beyond. She continued her passion for music as a founding committee member and musician in the Sequoia Symphony Orchestra, even performing as a soloist. She was involved in the Tulare Ag Center and saw it become the International Agri-Center and expo it is today. She is a founding member of the Tulare County Historical Society and is deeply involved with her local First Congregational Church. She was also a Tulare City School Board trustee for 26 years and sat on the Tulare County Board of Education for 25 years.
Tulare County Symphony (now known as Sequoia Symphony), 1963, first publicity photo
Shortly after moving back to Tulare, Fresno State President Arnold E. Joyal invited her to join the President’s Advisory Board. That service was the catalyst to a lifetime of service and financial support at Fresno State.
From gifts to the Ag One Foundation and other areas in the Jordan College of Agriculture to gifts to the Bulldog Marching Band and scholarships in the Music Department, her wide range of generosity represents the depth of her involvement in her life’s interests in agriculture, music and education. A lifelong Bulldogs Football fan, she has also supported athletics through the Bulldog Foundation.
While serving on the Library Leadership Board she saw the needs and supported several areas of the library. In 2005, she and her sister Eleanor were recognized as Library donors of the Year after funding a study room in honor of their mother. She received the first Top Dog Award through the Fresno State Library in 2006.
“I think philanthropy is one of the most important things you can do,” said Hillman. “My grandfather gave to so many farmers. He gave the money to get the seed to plant their crops. He set the standard for the rest of us.”
With a family history of great-great grandparents who starved to death establishing a new path to California and a great-grandmother who narrowly survived to the grandfather who founded a company that would help feed the world, it seems fitting that Hillman also supports the Food Security Project, which includes the Amendola Family Student Cupboard.
“Food is such an important part of our existence.”
Hillman said she feels blessed to be able to help people and her community, but she also feels that giving back is an integral part of living a fulfilling life.
“I am so fortunate that I have lived this long,” said Hillman. “I get up in the morning and know that I’m going to try and get through the day doing good for people and enjoying life at the same time. What could be better?”
