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IN & AROUND HORSE COUNTRY • SPRING 2015
REMEMBRANCE Remembering a Friend J. Harris Anderson, Managing Editor For more than 20 years Janet Hitchen (1943-2015) was an integral part of the Horse Country team. The distinctive look of our pages, especially the covers, is largely the result of the artistry she created with her camera. The talent required to capture such compelling Photographer Janet Hitchen at the photographic imVirginia Fox Hound Show. ages is a mystery Douglas Lees photo beyond the limited comprehension of this editor. But, borrowing from Justice Potter Stewart, I know it when I see it. And no one did it better than Janet. Janet told me she didn’t like it when riders waved at her as they rode by. She wanted to catch them in candid action, not mugging for her camera. (Of course, knowing that, I couldn’t resist the occasional wave just to tease her.) Before the Coach Stop regrettably closed its doors, we had a regular Wednesday night dinner group that met there. Many evenings I would just sit back and listen to Janet and Roy “Tennessee” Graham swap tales of their past adventures. There was always a spirit in her voice that sounded as if the sparkle of her photos had been transformed into sound. Those of us who knew her as more than just a face behind a camera valued her kindness and caring nature. And, as anyone reading this paper will appreciate, that was especially true when it came to animals. Her home was invariably filled with a menagerie of misfits and castoffs that, had it not been for Janet, would have faced sad outcomes. But instead they found a happy, nurturing home. The image of her moving patiently among the crowds at the races, hunt meets, social gatherings, and other events here in horse country will remain in the mind’s eye of many. Loaded down with gear, limping in later years, Janet had an intuitive sense of where to be and what to shoot. When you saw Janet, you knew the day would be captured in a collection of images both frozen in the moment yet alive with action. Putting together a publication, issue after issue for 25 years, imposes a challenge for the team members. Each issue is a blank canvas and the goal is to fill it with images and words that readers will find entertaining, informative, perhaps even inspirational. No one contributed more to those objectives than Janet. Other publications will run the standard obituary info. But such details as dates, awards, and credentials have little relevance to the memory of a valued colleague and dear friend. This paper will go on. But it will never be quite the same. Please remember Janet and her love of animals with a gift to the Middleburg Humane Foundation, www.middleburghumane.com