Metro Staff member loses cancer battle

By Dave Flomberg
The Metropolitan

After a five-month battle with cancer, a member of Metroâs administrative personnel died Oct. 14. She was 46.

Pam Hitchcock was diagnosed with cancer in mid-May after apparently suffering from a stroke. She was rushed from Metro to the hospital where doctors found malignant tumors throughout her body and traced them back to her lungs.

She spent her last days at Elmshaven hospice in north Denver.

ãIt was non-smokerâs cancer,ä said Karen Richardson, who was Hitchcockâs best friend for more than 20 years. ãShe was exposed to heavy second-hand smoke growing up. Her grandfather smoked three to four packs a day for the 18 years he lived with her growing up.ä

Richardson stressed that Hitchcock was loved and she was a fighter.

ãThere was a minimum of five to 10 people coming in every day to see her for the three months she was here without waning. It is a testament to how loved she was.

ãShe refused to give up. Even when the doctors told her there was nothing more that could be done, she said, Îthey donât know how tough I am.â ä

Stephen Leonard, chairman of Metroâs History department, said Hitchcock was tough and dedicated. She attended Metro in the early 1970s and earned her history degree. She was also one of the founding members of Phi Alpha Theta, the History departmentâs honor society.

After she graduated, she attended the University of Chicago where she earned her masterâs degree in history.

ãShe was one of our best students,ä Leonard said. ãThen she returned to Metro where she worked for many years in a wide variety of positions.

ãShe was a tremendously giving person,ä he said, his voice racked with emotion. ãEvery year on my birthday, she would bring me brownies. She left a great legacy and a host of friends.ä

Vernon Haley, vice president of Student Services, was her last supervisor.

ãPam was the most dedicated and loyal staff person Iâve ever had work for me,ä Haley said. ãShe was probably the most sensitive person in terms of taking the extra step to help people. It didnât make any difference what division she was in.  She would go out of her way, in terms of time and effort, to help anyone that needed it.

ãWeâre going to miss her.ä

Hitchcock was born June 3, 1951 in Denver. She grew up in Detroit and Santa Barbara, Calif. She moved back to Denver to attend Metro in 1969.

She is survived by her 18-year-old son Paul and her father Harold Hiscock.

Funeral services will be at St. Thomas Episcopal Church at 2201 Dexter St. on Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. There will be a Metro memorial service at 3 p.m. Oct. 17 at St. Elizabethâs cathedral.

In lieu of flowers, contributions are being accepted by Bob Godfrey for the Pam Hitchcock Memorial Tree, which will be planted outside the West Classroom. Godfrey can be reached at 556-8401.