An Extraordinary Life: For former Joliet pastor, people were his focus

JOLIET – Former Joliet resident R. Hilton Griswold – pastor, musician and television performer – grew up on an 80-acre sharecropper farm in Central Texas and loved music from early boyhood, said Hilton’s son, Larry Griswold of Plainfield.

Hilton especially enjoyed listening to southern gospel quartets from a Dallas radio station and then replicating what he heard on the family’s pump organ, Larry said. He became quite the accomplished pianist and was completely self-taught, a fact that was evident to other professional musicians.

“When my dad played chords on the piano, the fingering was all wrong,” Larry said, “but that’s how he taught himself to play. Musicians would look at him and say, ‘Wow, that’s funny. That’s not the right technique.’ ”

At 21, Hilton attended the Stamps-Baxter Music Company in Dallas for vocal training and became the original pianist for the Blackwood Brothers Quartet, Larry said. Hilton played with the quartet for 10 years, retiring in 1950 to become a full-time pastor.

“Music and ministry were my dad’s life,” Larry said. “People were his focus.”

Hilton spent 65 years in active ministry, most of them pastoring churches in Iowa and Missouri, but he never left music far behind him, Larry said. In 1984, when Larry was pastor of First Assembly of God Church in Joliet, Hilton joined the church’s pastoral team.

“His work ethic was incredibly high and I think that goes back to his rural roots,” Larry said. “His friendliness was at the top of the charts. He was very willing to speak to strangers, to make friends.”

Hilton, Larry said, was dedicated to visiting church members in the hospitals, along with visiting any other patients who needed pastoral care.

“His intention was to pastor the community, not just the church,” Larry said. “He wasn’t out there circulating, but whenever a door opened, he kept following it. He met the needs wherever they were.”

During the 14 years Hilton served at First Assembly, he began his own television program, “Young at Heart,” which aired on WCFC TV 38 in Chicago. Over time, Hilton moved production to WVCY in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and called the show “Inspiration Time.”

Performing with him were Larry, Robert Hahn of Joliet and Raymond Mitchell of Ottawa, known together as Parsons Four Quartet, Larry said.

After Hilton retired to Missouri, the group would meet in Milwaukee about every five months and record episodes for two straight days, Larry said. And yes, Hilton drove from Missouri to Milwaukee, he added.

In fact, Hilton’s show was still in production at the time of his death May 5 at the age of 93.

“A number of stations that broadcast my dad’s program are still airing them,” Larry said. “They have tagline notes that he has passed away, and I answer his mail. I receive 15 to 20 pieces of mail every week from people who are regularly watching his program and just write. His legacy lives on.”

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.