David Arthur Hilts

David "Dave" Arthur Hilts, a long-time resident of La Palma, California, formerly of Rochester, Minnesota, passed away on April 7, 2018, at the age of 83 years.


David attended Rochester High School in Rochester, Minnesota, graduating in 1953. He attended college at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and earned his undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1958. He met Alice Murray from Stewartville, a student at Methodist Kahler School of Nursing in Rochester, and the two were married in the fall of 1958 and moved to California where Dave was already working at Douglas Aircraft Company. He went on to earn two Master's degrees in Engineering, one from UCLA in 1963 and the other from USC in Electrical Engineering in 1968. He spent his entire career working in aerospace for General Dynamics, North American Aviation, McDonnell Douglas, Rockwell, and Boeing. He worked on many programs with his most recent one being the Space Shuttle. He retired in 1999 after 41 years of service.


Dave loved the outdoors and going on adventurous road trips, both with the family in the motorhome, or solo in his Toyota camper. Yosemite and Sequoia were two popular family vacation destinations and the source of many wonderful family memories. Dave also enjoyed camping and hiking in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, searching for the elusive Bigfoot (though he never had a sighting). He was an active member of MENSA as well as an avid runner and weightlifter up to the time he was sidelined by a major stroke in 2006.


Dave will be sadly missed by his wife Alice (Murray) Hilts, his children Elizabeth (Hilts) Haseltine, Murray Hilts, Jonathan Hilts and Todd Hilts, his son-in-law Richard, his daughters-in-law Mignon and Minami, and his six grandchildren, Rebecca, Christopher, Ryan, Olivia, Aiden, and Trevor.


He is predeceased by his father Arthur Hilts, his mother Kathryn (Bahmer) Hilts and his sisters Jean (Hilts) Riess and Ellie (Hilts) Neighbors.


Dave's memorial service will be held on Saturday, April 28, at 9:00 a.m., at Forest Lawn, located at 4471 Lincoln Avenue, Cypress, California, 90630.