PFC, US Army, Tony Hillerman   

Born: May 7 1925, Pottawatomie, Oklahoma

Died: October 26, 2008, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Anthony Grove Hillerman was born on May 27th, 1925, in Pottawatomie, Oklahoma to Lucy Grove and August A. Hillerman. After high school, he attended the University of Oklahoma, leaving in 1943 to join the Army, serving with the 103rd Infantry Division. During his service, Hillerman was severely wounded in battle and was awarded a Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.

His career included work as a reporter for the Borger News Herald in Borger, Texas, city editor for the Morning Press-Constitution in Lawton, Oklahoma, political reporter for UPI in Oklahoma City, UPI bureau manager in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and editor for the Santa Fe New Mexican.  

After earning a graduate degree, he joined the University of New Mexico faculty in 1966, where he taught for 20 years. During his tenure at the University, he published his first novels, The Boy Who Made Dragonfly and The Blessing Way, featuring Lt. Joe Leaphorn, a non-traditional Navajo, in 1970. A counterpoint character, Officer Jim Chee, who was studying to become a Navajo shaman, was introduced in “People of Darkness” in 1978. The two characters were highlighted in eighteen novels, appearing together for the first time in Skinwalkers, published in 1987, followed by A Thief of Time, which made many best-seller lists. That same year, the Navajo Tribal Council honored him with its Special Friend of the Diné award, which he accepted with immense pride. Other novels include Talking God in 1989 and The Coyote Waits in 1990.

The Mystery Writers of America awarded him its highest honor, the Grandmaster Award, in 1991, and in 1993, he was also inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame. In 2001, he published Buster Mesquite’s Cowboy Band, a children’s book, and his memoirs, Seldom Disappointed, for which he won the Agatha Award for Best Non-Fiction. He also edited or contributed to more than a dozen other books, including mystery and history anthologies as well as books on the craft of writing. His efforts were rewarded with the Golden Spur Award from the Western Writers of America and the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America, which elected him its president. His last novels were Skeleton Man, published in 2004, and The Shape Shifter in 2006. Tony Hillerman passed away on October 26th, 2008, at age 83. 

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