Jill Ricker Hitchcock, age 78, an independent spirit was born on July 12, 1943 in South Peabody, MA. She died May 15, 2022 in Worcester, MA.

Brought up in the house her grandfather built, one of three siblings of Ruth (Ricker) and Frederick Hitchcock. With dollars at a premium, she started babysitting at age 8 and worked summers while finding time to play softball and join the Brownies and Girl Scouts.

Bright enough to get all A’s, except in conduct where she was a free spirit, even refusing to get her final scouts’ “domestic” badge, believing not all women should have to cook.

She graduated from Peabody High School and then the Chandler School for Women, where her executive secretary degree help get her first job at General Electric in Lynn. She subsequently worked at Astro Dynamics, which built gear for astronauts. She then attended Suffolk University nights, for a degree in Finance.

At Astro she met and eloped with Bryce Larrabee. Together they restored an old stone house in Harvard, MA. When they bought it, they had $90 in savings and ate Saltine crackers to afford renovating. They were divorced in 1981.

She went to work for a company that developed the dot matrix printer, moved to Westborough and then to the condo she owned at the time of her death at Ridgefield in Clinton MA.

Jill worked for Digital Equipment Corporation for 10 years where she sold software. At DEC, she travelled widely throughout Europe and fell in love with Switzerland. She was then recruited by Anderson Consulting, moved to Chicago living for a time in Lake Forest, then eventually returning to MA to work for Fidelity Investments. Following an illness, she retired from Fidelity. Jill loved her friends, travelling and reading. She was witty and full of life, quick to launch a barb when called for, but with a compassionate heart and a smile on her face.

She is survived by her sister Judith (Hitchcock) Koppel. Her brother, Paul, predeceased her. A graveside will be held on Wednesday June 8 at 11:30 AM at the family lot in Cedar Grove Cemetery, Peabody.