Popular lecturer, Photographer and
World TravelerRosario Granados Hill, died of natural causes
at her home in Sun City Center, Florida on March 7, 1999 at 11:45
a.m. She is the fifth Granados of the original ten 1st generation
Granados’ to pass on. . She was 91. Born in Seville, Spain, she
emigrated to America with her parents and 3 siblings in 1910. She
spent most of her life in Washington, D. C. where she worked for the
Department of Agriculture and the State Department before
retirement.
Mrs. Hill was very active in the White House Spanish Club, a
conversation group established by Mamie Eisenhower. The Club met
each month at a luncheon in the White House followed by an
entertaining discussion on Spain and Spanish contributions to world
culture. This was a favorite subject of Mrs. Eisenhower’s. Having
spent a great deal of time traveling throughout Spain, and studying
Spanish culture at the University of Madrid, Mrs. Hill was the
Club’s expert on Spain and Spanish culture.
She was a member of the Washington, D.C. photography club, and
won many awards for her startling photographs of cultural events,
wild animals and birds, taken during her travels throughout the
world. One of her favorite illustrated talks, "Safari to
Unforgettable Africa" was given to a full house at a major Audubon
Society meeting held at the Smithsonian Institution. This was a
visual and verbal lecture on Africa during the ‘50’s.
Ms. Hill traveled, photographed, and lectured on the joys and
excitement of traveling in the 50’s and 60’s much before traveling
became such a common pastime for young and elderly Americans. Her
lectures raised a great deal of interest in travel which at that
time was a relatively dormant industry. Her trips took her to
Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Brazzaville, Natal, Transvaal, Zimbabwe,
Kenya, Ambosell National Park, Lake Manyara, Victoria Falls,
Tanganyika’s Serengeti Plain, Central and South America, the greater
part of Europe, India, Russia, Japan, New Guinea, the Solomon
Islands, Borneo, Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand, all of which
she photographed extensively for her own enjoyment and to illustrate
her lectures.
A fervent bird watcher and long time member of the Audubon
Society, she accompanied Roger Tory Peterson on several bird
watching trips through Africa and the South Pacific. After retiring
in Florida, she formed a bird watching group there, and led a number
of trips through the Everglades and other parks in Florida.
Among her many eclectic interests, she was also an active member,
and many times President, of the "Questor’s Antique Society of
Washington, D.C.," a semi-professional group seeking rare American
antiques in out-of-the-way-places,
Ms. Hill is survived by her two daughters: Dolores Hagerty and
Shirley Adams; 11 grandchildren; 20 great grandchildren; and 4
great, great, grandchildren; most all of whom live in the
Washington, D.C. area. A granddaughter, Penny Adams, a Producer of
the TV series, ER, lives in Los Angeles. Internment will be private
at the George Washington Cemetery in Adelphi, Maryland.