We received the sad news recently: the Colorado River Indian Tribes announced that Tribal Council Member Johnny Hill Jr. died on April 15th, 2021. We would like to extend our sincere condolences to Mr. Hill’s family, friends and community. 

Johnny Hill Jr. was one of the last fluent speakers of the Chemehuevi language, which is a Colorado River Numic language (of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family). He learned the language from his grandmother, Mary S. Hill. According to an article in Parker Pioneer, Mr. Hill realized after his grandmother’s passing that “the Chemehuevi language was a part of her she left to him.”

Mr. Hill worked with scholars from the University of Arizona to document the language, and spoke publicly about the need to safeguard it for future generations. He was featured in the 2008 documentary film “The Linguists” that also portrayed David Harrison and Greg Anderson (of Living Tongues Institute). Mr. Hill received a standing ovation when he spoke about the film at its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. In a 2012 article entitled “Vanishing Voices” that appeared in National Geographic, Mr. Hill was quoted as saying about his language, “I speak it in my heart.” 

Johnny’s good humor, dignity and passion for this language served as an inspiration to us all at Living Tongues. It was an honor to know him and learn from him. He will be missed terribly, and his passing is a true loss. With his passing, a wealth of knowledge of his language may have indeed been taken from the world, but we are happy that he shared some of this before journeying on. This will serve as a legacy for generations to come. He will continue to be celebrated in our hearts and minds.