Trying to see the good in people is one lesson this mother of two realized was one of the best “gifts” she would ever receive.
Patty Hitchcock of Bainbridge explains her life has had its trials and tribulations and through it all she found herself, found out who she wanted to be and what kind of mother she was.
Hitchcock grew up one of five children in Queens. She and her family moved north before her senior year and she graduated from Unatego high school. At age 16, Hitchcock began what turned into her life-long career thus far at the Cullman Center in Sidney. By 1996, Hitchcock was married and soon after began to raise a family.
Patty’s life would be forever changed in 2003 when her husband feel ill, was hospitalized, and never returned home. Her children were young and she’d never thought she would be raising them alone. “My life did a complete 360 and I didn’t know what I was going to do,” she said, “It was Christmas and I didn’t know how I was going to get them gifts and juggle everything else.”
In December the same year, Hitchcock explains she stumbled across the Toys for Tots train, a locomotive filled with toys for children and accompanied by United States Marines and Santa. The train travels through Bainbridge and makes the deliveries for children in Chenango County. Hitchcock says the train was a sign. She walked to the train and began to tell her story of what she had been going through to one of the Marines aboard. “He saw me, he saw my pain,” she said. As Patty walked away from the train she was called back by the Marine and as she turned she saw that they were taking a bike from down to give to her son. “It was so much more than a bike,” she says. “It represented so much more than a simple gift.”
Hitchcock explains that as she looked at what they had given her, she was in awe of who they were, what they did for her and what they do for others. “It gave me the courage to believe that there are good people out there, not everything was bad and that I had the courage to do something wonderful and care for my children,” said Hitchcock.
Now years later, as Hitchcock is just a semester away from graduating college, she says she still believes people do not realize what an impact they can make on another person. Hitchcock has worked towards a degree in the human services field and says she did it not only for her children, but for herself as well. “I did it for them, with the strength from others,” she said.
Over the years that followed her encounter with the Tots for Tots train, Hitchcock says her life has changed for the better. “The gift they gave me that day was not the bike, it was the feeling of the human spirit.” Patty and her family remain active with the Toys for Tots program and make it a tradition every year to return to the train in Bainbridge and help unload the toys for the children in Chenango County.
Hitchcock says she now has a wonderful support system including her family and her boyfriend Jeremy Green, whom she has been with for well over a year and she, her children, Jeremy and his son have become a family. “This is more than I ever thought I would have again,” she said. “He is the love of my life,” she said.
Patty explains she has so much more to live for and after facing another horrible trial regarding her own health just nine months ago, she said she does not take anything for granted and says she has to keep going for her children.
Editor’s Note: “Chenango Stories” puts the spotlight on those people whose compelling stories you might not otherwise hear. If you know someone who is interested in telling their “Chenango Story,” contact Jill Kraft at 337-3075 or e-mail: jkraft@evesun.com.