Hugh Niles; was Army Guard officer

Hugh S. Niles, 87, of Sellersville, a retired Pennsylvania Army National Guard officer, died of kidney failure May 14 at Temple University Hospital.

Mr. Niles, who retired as a brigadier general, was with the guard from 1948 - except for active duty during the Korean conflict - until 1979. He was also a Republican committeeman and a high school teacher and sports coach.

Born in Elkland, Tioga County, Mr. Niles graduated with a bachelor's degree in business education in 1943 from what is now Bloomsburg University, and earned his Army Air Corps officer's commission in 1944. As a B-24 pilot, he flew 35 combat missions over Germany and Italy during World War II.

Mr. Niles joined the Army National Guard in 1948 as a part-time soldier while teaching business education at Sellersville-Perkasie High School, where he helped coach basketball and football.

After active duty in the Air Force from 1951 to 1953, during which he was based in Heidelberg, West Germany, Mr. Niles began his full-time career with the Pennsylvania Department of Military Affairs as director of technician personnel, a job that his son Scott said "was equivalent of being the director of the human resources office."

In 1977, he was named chief of staff for the Pennsylvania guard, and in 1979, the year of his retirement, Mr. Niles earned his general's star. From 1980 until his death, his son said, he was chairman of the guard's scholarship fund.

Earlier in his career, his son said, Mr. Niles had been president of the Sellersville school board, secretary of the Sellersville Planning Commission, and a member of the Pennridge school board.

Mr. Niles was a member of the 250th anniversary committee for Sellersville, which was founded in 1738, and a member of the Pennridge Community Day Committee, which named him Citizen of the Year in 1987.

His son said Mr. Niles was a director of the Pennridge Chamber of Commerce, an editor of its newsletter, and chairman of its legislative affairs committee, and in 1994, he received its Frank Kulp Memorial Award.

And, his son said, the National Guard Bureau awarded Mr. Niles its Legion of Merit award.

Besides his son, Mr. Niles is survived by his wife, Mary Patricia; sons Spencer and Shawn; daughters Susan Valimont, Sandra Hoopes, Sherri Kratzer and Shelley Platt; a sister; and 17 grandchildren.

A visitation was set for 6 to 8:30 p.m. today at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 104 Green St., Sellersville, and tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. until the 11 a.m. funeral service there. Burial is to be in Sellersville Cemetery.