Master William Hitchcock
When I was growing up in the late 50s and early 60s, young people were expected to decide fairly early on whether or not they were going to select college and a professional career path. As a 9th grader in 1959-60, I was swept up in the fascination of the space race and naturally wanted to pursue the field of science. I soon found out, in large part due to the influence of my teachers, that I had no aptitude for scientific pursuits at all. The teacher who coached school plays had a lot to do with my becoming involved in leading roles in those plays, and eventually steering my attention to liberal arts instead of science.
A work ethic was an important part of development at that age as well. I lived on a small farm where we grew asparagus, and every April they would change the starting time for school to allow kids who cut asparagus to have time to get up at five in the morning and do their jobs. We often worked side by side with Hispanic families who migrated north every spring, giving us a rare opportunity to meet another culture. Although there was also an Indian reservation nearby, there were very few minority students in our school, and sensitivity to minority and race relations issues was largely nonexistent.
In a small town, your parents and your parents’ friends, along with teachers, ministers and business leaders, were your role models. “Juvenile delinquent” was a term that we thought only applied in places like New York City, and what we saw of juvenile crime amounted to petty vandalism on Halloween, or sneaking beers on weekends. Parental support and encouragement was, however, truly the key to staying on the road to success. And community norms that honored achievement and valued the ethic of working hard created the environment for me to succeed.After graduating from college and completing law school, with a brief hiatus for military service, I wound up in Anchorage working as a judicial officer hearing juvenile delinquency, child protection and domestic relations cases. It was the cases of children exposed to the cycle of abuse and neglect, and youth involved in delinquency that really captured my interest. This was an area where I felt that the courts and the legal system really could make a difference for the future. Of all the possible options in the field of law, this is not one I would have predicted that I would pursue.
At first it was just a job. However, after a few years I could see that it had become a career, one that has now lasted for over twenty years. It is an example of the reality that we often don’t purposefully select our work in life, but rather we discover it.
