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Letter to the editor

Happy to be a nonstop mom

By LARA CERRI, Times Staff
Published November 25, 2007

Constance Hills has two pots on the stove and water running in the sink. Her adopted 3-year-old daughter is splashing her tiny hands in the water, helping wash dishes.

"Thank you," says Hills, in her soft but serious tone. She looks over her glasses at all of the food she's about to prepare for a large dinner. Her black locks fall past her shoulder.

Hills is 71 years old and has fostered more than a dozen children over the years. This little girl with blond curls is her first adoption. Hills took her in when she was only days old. "Nobody ever came to visit her when she was in foster care."

Hills first tried retiring from her years as a registered nurse at 59, but she got bored and went back to work. And fostered more kids.

"I'm just as young as the rest of them at heart," said Hills, who will be 85 or so when her youngest graduates from high school. "My kids keep me running."

Two of her boys are teenagers and still live at home. She taught them to cook and clean. They both play football and are on the honor roll. She goes to their games.

"I keep them busy because I don't want any trouble," Hills said. "Once they get idle, that's the devil's workshop."

[Last modified November 24, 2007, 23:29:03]