Remembering Anne Marie Hochhalter, a heroic survivor of the Columbine High School shooting in Colorado
In their apartment Rick and Sue Townsend sat and contemplated all they had with Anne Marie Hochhalter.
"I wanted to put as much love into the world as I could, to crowd out some of the evil. And Anne Marie helped me do that," said Sue Townsend.
It was how the Highlands Ranch couple's lives were changed over the years after the 1999 shooting at Columbine High School in Colorado.
"She was never bitter, or angry because of her injuries," explained Rick Townsend.
Anne Marie Hochhalter was found dead in her apartment in Westminster Sunday. She was 43. Left paralyzed from a shot in the back in the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999, she went on to spend much of her life helping others, even when few people knew how much she was doing.
"I'm seeing comments and folks posting all over the place about her involvement with these different groups and the support that she was providing that I didn't know about," said her brother Nathan. "That was her focus of support; making sure that others know that they can persevere as she did."
It was especially challenging when Anne Marie had to overcome the suicide of her own mother, who killed herself with a gun at a pawn shop only months after the shooting at Columbine High School.
"We both loved our mom very much. It was a challenging time with the struggles that she was having. Especially post-Columbine," said Nathan.
For the Townsends, she made a critical difference in their world of pain. Rick Townsend's daughter, Sue's stepdaughter, Lauren Townsend, was killed in the shooting at Columbine.
"Some people have said that 'You just replaced Lauren with someone else.' That is not the case," said Rick Townsend.
The two were different. Lauren Townsend was a volleyball team leader whose death was crushing to all of her family.
"We would have survived, but I don't know how long it would have been before we felt joy again," said Sue Townsend.
But soon they met with Anne Marie, who was a musician and also a great student. But at times shy.
"There have been a lot of times that we've just thought that was one of the best things that came out of Columbine, that tragedy, was this wonderful relationship with this beautiful young woman," said Sue.
Over the years she had endured years of nerve pain and operations which had grown more severe. While there is no cause of death established yet Sue Townsend says she believes the shooting had something to do with it.
"I know she had some challenges over the last couple of years. And she shared some of it with me. I know things were getting, things were difficult for her," said her brother.
Among other things she did to help, she went to a vigil for the victims of the Aurora theater shooting in 2012.
Each time there was a phone call asking her to step in, she did.
"On Sunday when I received a call from the Townsends who said Anne Marie passed away, it just broke my heart," said former Columbine High Principal Frank DeAngelis.
DeAngelis recalled how much Anne Marie Hochhalter had done without objection.
"People can just quit and say 'I'm done,' but that was not Anne Marie. She was going to continue to help people whatever way she can," said an emotional DeAngelis. "Even though she's not with us, I know she's going to continue to help us."
Her life was a big help to the Townsends. She was not the daughter they could not replace, but her role in their lives made things better.
"There have been a lot of times that we've just thought that was one of the best things that came out of Columbine, that tragedy, was this wonderful relationship with this beautiful young woman," said Sue Townsend.
