William Hilliard was born May 21, 1920 in Shanghai to William Ira Hilliard and Jessie Emma Hilliard.

He moved with his parents to Yenchung, Honan in 1921.  They were in Shanghai for a year or two during the civil war.  They lived in Hankow, Hupei, until their furlough in 1931. They crossed the USSR by railway. His parents were assigned to Mukden, Manchuria, during the Japanese occupation.

He attended Far Eastern Academy for three years in Shanghai, and for his senior year in Hong Kong (1934-1938).  From 1938-1943 he attended Pacific Union College. In 1942 he married Virginia Eleanor Anderson, daughter of Alfonso Nils and Mayte Landis-Anderson.  His parents were missionaries in both Japan and the Philippines.         

Elder Hilliard interned in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference beginning in September, 1943.  He assisted in evangelistic efforts in Albany, Fitzgerald and Rome, Georgia.  He served as pastor of the Rome District (including Dalton, Calhoun and Ellijay) until December 31, 1946.  He was ordained at a campmeeting at Collegedale, Tennessee in September, 1946.

The family went to work in the China Division, traveling by ship to Shanghai in May, 1947.  The family spent the first year in Peking in language study.  He assisted Fordyce Detamore in evangelism in Shanghai during the summer of 1948.  In the fall he drove a truck to Kunming, Yunnan Province.  He was Mission President there one year.  He was able to leave on a chartered Lutheran Mission plane shortly before the communists took over. 

Assigned to work for Tibetans, he was joined by Dr. Robert Dunn and Hsuen Ming Shan, who was a recently baptized Tibetan in Kunming. He worked in Kalimpong, India, hoping to enter Tibet, but the Chinese took over, and because of border problems between India and China, the Indian government required that we leave.

From March, 1952 to December, 1960 Elder Hilliard served as Mission President in Hong Kong.  The next two years he was President of the Southeast Asia Union Mission in Singapore.

In January, 1962 he began pastoring in Northern California Conference where he served in Roseville until 1969.  In Placerville he worked until December, 1973, and then in Fortuna until his retirement in September, 1965. During that time I served as Director of Redwood Area Camp Meeting, working alongside Eugene Anderson in locating and developing the camp ground.

After retirement, Elder Hilliard served as part-time pastor for Trinidad Church, and has been treasurer for the Camp Meeting, and the Pathfinder Coordinator for the North Coast Pathfinder Clubs.

Four children blessed Elder and Mrs. Hilliard’s home:  Voncile, born December 7, 1941 (married to Elder Wayne Young), William Warren, born June 6, 1946 (married to Marley), Charles LaRue, born October 5, 1953 (married Lila Mudderspach, M.D.) and Gwendolyn, born April 19, 1955, widow of Edward Prochnow.