Tributes
Livy Hitchcock
Columbine Tragedy

Cassie Bernall
One of Livy’s most cherished projects has been the portraits she donated to the grieving families of the students killed in the Columbine school shootings in 1999. “We were all saddened and horrified by the events that occurred at Columbine High School. As a portrait artist for 50 years, I know the value and healing that such portraits will give to those grieving.
So I offered as a gift to each family , a portrait of their loved one who had died. Each portrait has an image of two ages, as a child and as the age they died.” Isaiah Shoels is last one to be finished and is currently in progress.
A Letter to the Families
"April 24, 1999
To the families of the victims of the tragedy at Columbine High School
Dear Families
I would like to extend my heartfelt sympathies to the families and friends of the victims. I am a parent of a high school senior and college junior and I can’t even begin to understand the enormity of your loss. As a professional portrait artist, I have painted many memorial portraits and personally know the value that this has to loved ones. It helps to heal the grief and bring closure. As I was painting my latest portrait and thinking about the events that had unfolded, there was this instant when I knew that I could offer something of value to the grieving families. I would like to donate a portrait (to each family) of their loved one who died. I would like to capture for each of you, the beauty and uniqueness of your loved one, so that you will have a gift that you will cherish forever. The details can be worked out in your own time frame. I have been so impressed by the bravery and community spirit that I have seen in Littleton, and I would like to be a part of your community’s healing by offering this gift.
Sincerely,
Livy Hitchcock"
After watching the horrifying coverage of the Columbine shootings with my daughter ( who was 18), I couldn’t stop thinking about what could be done for these families to ease their pain. Since I had been painting portraits for 30 years, many of them of people who had passed on, I knew that such an offer would help these families who were dealing with such unimaginable grief. I was living in Vermont in 1999, and had friends living in the Littleton, Colorado area.
The day after the tragedy, I contacted a friend in Colorado who gave me the Hotline number for the Columbine families and I called and left a message that I wanted to offer a portrait of each student that was killed as a gift for each family. Then I sent a box to Colorado which contained 13 Manila envelopes which said on the outside “ to the family of” ( students’ name). Inside each envelope was a letter I wrote to the families describing my offer, photos of portraits I had done and a brochure with no prices listed. Before I sent the box, I showed the letter to the Principal of our daughter’s High School , (Armando Villeseca) and he made a copy of it. This was very fortunate because the first box made it to a big warehouse and was never seen again. So I contacted Armando Villeseca again and he faxed my letter to the Principal of Columbine High School, Frank DeAngelo. I was directed to send another box to the Sheriff’s office in Littleton where each family had an advocate.
My first response to the portrait offer came in a note to our daughter’s school from the Bernall family, and this began my Columbine Project. Misty Bernall sent me 2 photos to work from of her daughter Cassie. One was of Cassie in a black dress putting on lipstick in a bathroom. The second one was of Cassie as a baby in diapers holding on to the trunk of the tree her father planted when she was born. Misty asked if I could combine both photos. In a conversation with a friend, I had a “light bulb moment “ and decided to put Cassie in front of the portrait of herself as a baby, where she put on her lipstick looking into the glass of the hanging portrait. A portrait of two different ages! When Misty Bernall received her portrait ( framed and ready to hang) Patty DePooter visited and decided she wanted a portrait of her son Corey in 2 different ages. And this became the theme of the Columbine portraits... a story of the life of each child, depicting a younger age and the age they died! I worked from 4-5 photos to develop a “portrait story” for each student. In the first 2 years of painting these portraits, I painted 4 portraits. Then in Feb 2001, I stayed in Littleton Colorado and my friends hosted a dessert party where I met the parents of the first 4 portraits and the other parents to discuss their portraits. All families wanted 2 different ages, a story of the life of each victim.
I have completed 12 portraits , with one left ... 11 students and 1 teacher of the 13 victims. It has been 21 years since that terrible day... April 20, 1999
Painting these portraits for the grieving families has been the single most rewarding artistic endeavor in my career.
Livy Hitchcock
Denver Post Article