Hillary was born in Venezuela on Oct 28 1977. Her dad was an engineer working on an overseas assignment from the U.S., where he first worked after his education at Florida Tech. Both her parents, Jaime and Martha Leon were born in Colombia.

Hillary’s only sibling Melanie was born in Florida on Nov 13 1979. Her family traveled often as her father took several jobs overseas, eventually settling down in North Carolina, where she lived since 1985.

By the time Hillary was 8 yrs old she had already lived in or vacationed in Venezuela, Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Switzerland, Greece, Egypt, Israel, Monaco, and Colombia. At one point both her parents held US passports but Hillary carried a Venezuelan passport.

Hillary’s love of the outdoors and animals were developed early during her childhood years of travel. She once smuggled a young Colombian Boa Constrictor back to the United States in her pant pocket.

Since I’ve known Hillary she spoke frequently and fondly of Turkey and the other places she traveled. Her memories were sharp, and clearly influenced her capacity for adventure and love for animals. We argued several times about her desire to bring home snakes and monkeys. I thought she was crazy, but actually she was just being herself.

After high school Hillary left for college at age 17. She studied at UNC and then finished studying Economics at ASU. She sold all her possessions and solidified plans to work overseas in Turkey. When the arrangements in Turkey began to look shaky, her father Jaime convinced her to cancel her plans. Instead they went on a road trip through the west, visiting the Pacific Coast, parks in the Sierra Nevada, and most importantly Santa Barbara.

Hillary liked Santa Barbara and decided it was there she would look for work. She worked for a Hispanic Business Magazine for a period and then took a job at Superconductor Technologies. At STI she climbed her way through several positions into Human Resources where she specialized in Benefits. It was there we first met in June of 2002.

At the time, both of us were seeing someone fairly seriously, but by the late fall of 2002 both relationships had ended and we were on our first hike up Romero Cyn. Our relationship grew from there, and on Christmas Eve of 2004 I proposed marriage and Hillary accepted. We married in Santa Barbara on July 3 2006.

We missed our 2 year anniversary by only two weeks. In those two years we lived and loved with passion. Hillary’s natural inclination for adventure and the outdoors was a dream come true for me. We tried to keep a balance between a home life and outdoor pursuits, but the home projects usually ended up a distant second. She loved to be active, and even more so with good friends and family.

She passed away with the knowledge she would become a mother. She already asked the doctor if it was OK to compete in the Carpinteria Triathlon in September (yes).

Just weeks before her passing, we spent over a week of camping with her father and many long precious weekends with her sister. She had the excitment of sharing the big news with her beloved mother. She had more love in her heart and purity of spirit than anyone I ever knew.

Her life ended in the same way she lived; doing what she loved with those she loved, with passion and energy, without fear or regret.

Donations . . . http://sdtc08.kintera.org/hillary