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Former Register editor, Patricia Hillyer, dies
By John Gleason
Patricia Hillyer, former writer and editor of the Denver Catholic Register, died Oct. 25 in her home in Houston, Texas. She was 81.
Born in 1929 in Wyoming, Hillyer moved to Denver as a child. She married Granby Hillyer and had six children.
Having a passion for the written word from the time she was in school, Hillyer began writing on a freelance basis for the Register in the late 1970s. No story was too small or insignificant, according to her son, Granby Hillyer.
“She was very talented,” he said, “and loved anything that had to do with writing; she enjoyed being a journalist going all the way back to when she worked on the high school paper. But that was the way she was, putting everything she had into all parts of her life as a writer, a wife and mother to six kids.”
By 1984 Hillyer was working for the Register as a fulltime reporter and between 1988 and 1990 she was managing editor. During her tenure she had the opportunity to cover a wide variety of events and dignitaries, according to Rose Maestes, who sold classified advertising for the paper and was a close friend of Hillyer.
“She was a terrific writer,” Maestes said, and covered a lot of special issues. She travelled to Iowa in 1979 when Pope John Paul II visited there. She interviewed Mother Teresa when she came to Colorado and also traveled to Mexico on a story she wrote about immigration.”
Hillyer’s son Granby remembers the Mexico trip as one that was a cause of great concern to the family.
“Mom was doing this story undercover,” he said, “and dad really wasn’t pleased about it. If she’d been caught, she could have gone to jail.”
Hillyer was just at home covering major events and world newsmakers as she was writing about local theater productions, a where-to-dine in Denver column or a profile of an East Denver couple about their collection of 365 Nativity scenes. According to Maestes, once Hillyer took on a story, she didn’t stop until the full story had been told.
“Pat had a knack when it came to dealing with people,” she said. “She was fun; she made coming to work fun. There’ll never be another like her.”
Anne Hillyer said her mother precisely portrayed the lives and events she wrote about.
“She fully captured the spirit of her subject,” she said. “Mom was a natural and loved every minute of it.”
After she left the Register, Hillyer moved to Carmel, Calif., where she continued to write. She retired from the newspaper business in 1995.
A memorial service for Hillyer was held Nov. 20 at Spirit of Christ Church in Arvada. The family has suggested that contributions be made in her memory to Great Circle, a children’s social service organization. More information is available on line at www.great-circle.org.
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