Anne Marie Hochhalter, who was partially paralyzed within the Columbine Excessive College capturing however discovered power to forgive and to heal her soul after bonding with one other household devastated by the tragedy, has died. She was 43.
Hochhalter was present in her residence in suburban Denver on Sunday. Her household suspects she died of pure causes stemming from her accidents within the 1999 capturing through which 12 college students and a trainer have been killed.
The investigation into how she died has been transferred to the workplace that carried out the autopsies of these killed at Columbine, the coroner’s workplace for Adams and Broomfield counties stated.
Hochhalter in 2016 wrote a letter to one of many gunmen’s moms saying, “Bitterness is like swallowing a poison capsule,” and providing her forgiveness. Attending a vigil on the tragedy’s twenty fifth anniversary final 12 months — after skipping an analogous occasion 5 years earlier — she stated she was flooded with completely satisfied recollections from her childhood and needed these killed remembered for a way they lived, not how they died.
Hochhalter struggled with intense ache from her gunshot wounds over the previous 25 years. But her brother stated she was tireless in her drive to assist others — from folks with disabilities to rescue canine and members of her household.
“She was useful to a terrific many individuals. She was actually a very good human being and sister,” her brother, Nathan Hochhalter, stated Tuesday.
Her personal tragedy was compounded six months after the capturing, when her mom, Carla Hochhalter, went right into a pawnshop, and requested to take a look at a gun earlier than utilizing it on herself.
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Within the wake of her mom’s demise, Anne Marie Hochhalter was embraced by one other household who misplaced a daughter at Columbine.
Sue Townsend, whose stepdaughter, Lauren Townsend, was killed, reached out to assist Hochhalter as a way of easing her personal ache. At first, Townsend took Hochhalter to physician’s appointments and bodily remedy, however their bond quickly deepened as they obtained lunch and went buying collectively and finally started sharing household dinners and holidays.
Townsend and her husband, Rick, referred to as Hochhalter their “acquired daughter.”
On a visit to Hawaii collectively, Hochhalter, who used a wheelchair, was capable of float in a lagoon ache-free, she stated.
“This relationship would by no means had occurred if it hadn’t been for Columbine. So I attempted to concentrate on the reward that Columbine gave us in Anne Marie as an alternative of what it took away,” Townsend stated.
In 2016, the mom of one of many Columbine gunmen, Sue Klebold, launched a memoir exploring the causes of her son’s violence and methods to stop future assaults by psychological well being consciousness. Hochhalter stated on the time she was grateful that Klebold was donating the guide proceeds to assist these with psychological sickness. Hochhalter stated her mom suffered from despair and didn’t imagine the shootings have been on to blame for her demise.
She stated she was positive Klebold had agonized over what she may have completed otherwise simply as she had considered methods she may have prevented the demise of the mom she beloved.
“An excellent buddy as soon as informed me, ‘Bitterness is like swallowing a poison capsule and anticipating the opposite individual to die.’ It solely harms your self. I’ve forgiven you and solely want you the perfect,” Hochhalter stated in a message she posted on Fb. She additionally included a photograph of a card Sue and Tom Klebold despatched to her as she recovered within the hospital after the capturing.
Hochhalter attended the twenty fifth anniversary vigil in April along with her brother, who was trapped in a classroom throughout the capturing. She had not attended the twentieth anniversary occasion due to put up-traumatic stress dysfunction, she stated in a social media put up final 12 months.
“I’ve actually been capable of heal my soul since that terrible day in 1999,” she wrote.
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