Lisa Diann Hiles

The staff at the South Carolina Cremation Society offers their condolences to family and friends. We join you in remembering.

Lisa Diann Hiles, 61, lost her 7 year battle with breast cancer Jan 17, 2014.

Lisa graduated from the IU School of Nursing in 1974.  Following graduation, she reported for duty to the Navy Nurse Corp as a Ensign.  Her 28 year career included duty stations in Long Beach, San Diego, 29 Palms, Jacksonville, Kings Bay, Hospital ship USNS Comfort, Italy, the Philippines, and Guam.

Lisa always said, “I was just doing my job as a Navy nurse.”  That job included: …while transporting by plane a pregnant dependent wife, Lisa became the first Navy nurse to deliver twins while airborne;  …while serving on the Hospital ship Comfort as Director of Critical Care supporting our troops during the Gulf War, she responded in the middle of the night to the call of “fire, fire, fire” to help locate and put out a fire in a service elevator; …dealing with a bomb-threat in the hospital at Long Beach, she moved all patients outside into the parking lot, beds and all, held sick call there, and helped security and the bomb-sniffing dogs hunt for the bomb; …responding to the crash of a civilian Korean airliner on the Island of Guam, she helped dig the survivors out of the wreckage, and then spent 3 weeks supervising their medical care saving many lives.

Captain Garsha, Director of Health Care at the Hospital in Guam, called Lisa, “The best nurse I ever saw!”

Lisa had a sense of humor.  She was compassionate and professional in her work, and attentive to the needs of the nurses and corpsmen that worked for her.  God help you if you were on her staff and failed to do your job.  She retired with the rank of Captain in 2000.

Lisa is survived by a large extended family and friends which include: sisters Tabitha (Sparkes) Lacy (Alex), Birmingham, AL, Tracy (Sparkes) Chugani (Bobby), Buda, TX, Joan Riley (Jim), Lighthouse Point, FL, Pamela Hofflander(Barry), Nampa, ID; brothers Kent Hiles, Hartford City, IN, Scott Hiles (Jennifer), Bedford, IN, Kevin Sparkes (Carol), Nampa, ID, Julian Sparkes, Cabot, AR; Aunt Norma Myers, Anderson, IN; cousins Greg Myers, Jimmy Myers (Ellen), Billy Myers, Sarah Davis, all of Anderson, IN, Lois Myers and Bobby Myers (JoAnna Samuels), all of South Bend, IN, Rick Myers (Ashley), Seattle, WA, Theresa Smith (Bruce), Pottstown, PA, Trilby Idzerda, Indianapolis, IN, Julia Yoder, somewhere in U.S.; nieces Alexis Hiles, Melanie Hiles, St. Petersburg, FL, Evie Hiles, somewhere in Japan, Tabby Davis (Jeff), Hodges, SC; nephews William Lacy, Birmingham, AL, Shanon Hiles (Tia), Bedford, IN, Lance Hiles (Julie), Martinsville, IN; great-nieces Danielle, Kynlee, Rylee, Sadie, Gabriella Joy, Erika, Kendall; great-nephews Landon and Jude.

Special friends which include: Liz Bell, Mary Helen and Noah Rosenstein, Mary Ann and Bob McClain, and Mary Houser, all of Bluffton, SC, Carol and David Pierce, Melbourne, FL. Reva Esche and Nancy Durham of Anderson, IN.