Patty Hill
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Patty Smith Hill (27 March 1868 in Anchorage, Kentucky-25 May, 1946 in New York, New York) was an American nursery school, kindergarten teacher, and key founder of the National Association Nursery Education (NANE) which now exists as the National Association For the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Perhaps most well known as the sister of Mildred J. Hill with whom she is credited as cowriting the tune to the song Good Morning To All which became popular as Happy Birthday to You, Patty developed the Patty Hill blocks and in 1924 helped create the Institute of Child Welfare Research at Columbia University Teachers College.
Hill and her sister Mildred wrote the song (Mildred wrote the tune; Patty wrote the original lyrics) while Patty was principal and Mildred was a teacher at the Louisville Experimental Kindergarten School. This kindergarten was an early experiment in modern educational methods, and was honored, along with the Hill sisters, at the Chicago World's Fair in 1893. Hill was an authority and leader in the progressive education movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Patty Hill blocks were large blocks with which children could create giant constructions.
Patty Smith Hill is buried in Cave Hill Cemetery and Arboretum, Louisville, Kentucky. She and Mildred J. Hill were posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame on 12 June 1996.
