Peter Winston Hitchcock

Peter Winston Hitchcock of College Station, Texas passed away on September 13 after a courageous two-year battle with cancer, surrounded by his family. A visitation and rosary will be held on September 29, 2023 from 4-6 p.m. at Callaway-Jones Funeral Center in Bryan, Texas. The Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Bryan on September 30, 2023 beginning at 10:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to The Texas Ramp Project B/CS Chapter (www.texasramps.org) or the Aggieland Humane Society (www.aggielandhumane.org).

Peter was born on March 15, 1970 (the Ides of March) to Michael Harold Hitchcock and Doreen Eastman Hitchcock in Washington, DC. Anne Yelkin Hitchcock became his step-mother when he was nine and with Michael, helped raise him in Littleton, Colorado to be the extraordinary man he was.

After graduating from Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado in 1988, Peter attended Colorado State University where he studied for two years before transferring to Texas A&M University. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Anthropology from A&M, focusing on nautical archaeology in his graduate work.

Peter’s love of history, the classics, travel, and adventure took him many places. He was part of excavations, study, and work all over the United States and abroad. Peter was an archaeologist on the La Belle excavation in Matagorda Bay, and at its completion followed the ship and its artifacts to the Conservation Research Laboratory on A&M’s Riverside Campus where he helped with its preservation for several years. Peter also worked on the deep-water Mardi Gras Wreck project in the Gulf of Mexico. Becoming more interested in deep-water projects and oceanography, Peter began working for TDI-Brooks International, Inc. in 2010 and retired in 2022 as a Senior Project Manager, appreciating the opportunities he had to travel, contribute, and get to know so many people around the world.

Peter married Molly Gritter in 1999, and they welcomed their daughter Piper in 2003 and son Parker in 2006. Life was lived deeply as a family. He knew the best gifts were memories and he gave us many that will continue to make us smile, laugh, and retell the stories again and again. Among other things, Peter especially enjoyed a wicked sense of humor, Texas A&M game days, inventing, and creating. He was continually curious and a lifelong learner.

Preceding him in death were his mother Doreen Hitchcock, father Michael Hitchcock, grandparents Harold and Lily Hitchcock and Siddy Wilke, and uncle Bob Griffith.

Peter is survived by his wife Molly Hitchcock and children Piper and Parker; mother Anne Hitchcock; parents-in-law Jerry and Kay Gritter; brothers- and sisters-in-law Mike and Michele Hollis and Jeff and Sandra Gritter; nieces and nephews Joshua, Justin, Sarah, and Sam Hollis and Erica, Erin, and Andrew Gritter; his aunt Pat Griffith and cousins Julie and Mark Zimmerman, Kristen Griffith, and Debra Griffith; his Colorado “family” Jill and Rob Morin, Mel and Georgia Grusing, and Karen Flowers; and other family members and friends that also love and will miss him.