MALTIA W. HITCHEN

Palmer resident Malita Weldon Hitchen, 92, died at her home March 13, 2005. Her ashes will be buried at Angleus Memorial Park in Anchorage.

Ms. Hitchen was born in Miami, Okla., on May 3, 1912. She relocated with her parents, Thurman Weldon and Margaret (Bierley) Weldon, to Washington state about 1918, where she attended grade and high schools in White Salmon. She attended business college in Portland, Ore., after which she returned to Washington to work for five years with an insurance broker and the county treasurer's office in Goldendale, Wash.

From 1936 to 1939, she attended sanitarium and hospital nurses' training in Independence, Mo., where she obtained her degree of registered nurse.

Returning to Washington, she completed her graduate training at the University of Washington while working full time as a nurse at Providence Hospital in Seattle. In 1941-1943, Ms. Hitchen worked as public health nurse in Lewis County, Wash. Taking a sabbatical during 1944, she traveled to Alaska, where she remained for more than 60 years.

She met and married Harold W. Hitchen in 1945 and continued working in nursing for the Alaska Railroad - first in the old hospital near the old ARR ticket office and then continued for the ARR in the then-new Doctors Clinic located in Anchorage.

In 1950, she took leave from her profession to raise her son and assist her husband as office manager of Communications Equipment and Service Co., a small business venture.

Ms. Hitchen again returned to nursing part time in the 1960s for the Doctors Clinic at 9th Avenue and L Street in Anchorage. During and after this time, she worked as a volunteer for the Alaska Heart Association fund-raising drives, Sand Lake Community Council, Salvation Army Auxiliary and Booth Memorial Home. She is a past member of the League of Women Voters, a member of Alaska Mental Health Organization and a life member of Auxiliary #4, Pioneers of Alaska.

She resided in Anchorage for 55 years and then retired, in ill health, with her husband to Palmer, where she remained until her death.

Her husband wrote, "Malita was a kind and caring person, who literally never met a stranger. She gave generously of herself and her expertise to all, particularly her immediate family."

She is survived by her husband of 59 years, Harold W. Hitchen, and one son, Glenn, both of Palmer.

Memorial donations may be made to the Anchor-Age Center Endowment Fund (AKA; Anchorage Senior Center Endowment Fund), 1300 E. 19th Ave., Anchorage, AK 99501, or to the charity of the donor's choice. Arrangements were with Valley Funeral Home & Crematory in Wasilla.