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Collin Hightower
Collin Hightower
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Collin Hightower Obituary
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Juanita Ventura Garcia
April 5, 2025
Collin, was my child's Godfather. We all lived in Boulder, Colorado in the 1970's. Our deepest condolences .
Hopefully I will here from Lisa or Collin jr. May your father rest in peace.
Sheldon McLaughlin
April 28, 2021
Professor Hightower taught me my first introduction to abstract mathematics at the University of Colorado at Denver approximately 1988. I remember how odd it was having a math professor who was allergic to chalk (of all things!). He would wrap the chalk in a piece of paper to write on the chalkboard.
Deborah Sinay O'Connor
November 22, 2019
I found this page and Ben Miller's comments above... I can echo Ben's praises of Professor Hightower: I was in many of those classes with Ben and had the same great experiences. Collin was a calm and sweet fellow and always kind and fair; a fine teacher. It is great to take a moment from my day to remember him at the blackboard!
Collin Hightower
October 23, 2019
Dad, I just wanted to let you know that I was thinking about you today. I know it is years later. I hope you are observing all of our lives with a reflective love and pride. I think you would be sooo proud of Lindsey attending Harvard and Reid getting straight A's in his difficult High School classes.
I wish I had told you more I love you. I wish I had not been as difficult in my teenage years. I wish I could call you on the phone and catch up on the latest Bronco football happenings. I just wanted to let you know even all these years later I still think about you every day. I speak for all of us when I say WE LOVE YOU and WE MISS YOU.
You were always a gentle, kind and extremely intelligent soul. I want you to know that I appreciate all of your sacrifices and all resources that you selflessly gave to Lisa and I while growing up. You were definitively generous. You were a great teacher and you had the patience of saint. I found your old journals and mathematics papers. I am very proud of you. Lindsey is following in your footsteps with all of the math she is taking for her bio-medical engineering degree.
You would be proud of Hightower Trucking, Inc. You namesake is having a record year.
I hope you are witnessing all of this and may you know that you may be gone but you will never be forgotten. I love you.
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John Robey
October 8, 2015
Thank you for sharing your light while you were here on Earth. We all miss you. Hope things are marvelous where you are. I look forward to sharing conversation with you again in the sweet by-and-by. Shalom
John Robey
October 8, 2015
Collin Hightower, Sr., was an excellent friend and in many ways an exemplary human being. He genuinely cared about people. He was humorous, insightful, kind, generous, gentle, wise, and, like many Ph.D's, intelligent.
Though his children were grown and on their own when I met him, in parenting he'd been a nurturing father. He told me how it was his kids who'd gotten him into playing D&D and IFGS.
Even in his mid-fifties and beyond, I would say that he was "in touch with his inner child"--though I am equally certain he would reject my phrasing it that way and would no doubt offer a more correct statement, perhaps such as capable of still being spontaneous and able to see the good and find enjoyment in things, only with a lot more precision than I can offer on his behalf.
He was honest, both with himself and others, and harbored few illusions. He was able to see the positive side and I think that permitted him to counteract the negative events that happened in his and all men's lives.
If he ever claimed not to suffer fools gladly, he was nonetheless unfailingly kind and polite; and in addition to being a friend, he was a wonderful mentor.
During one of our last phone conversations, he told me he planned to live to at least the age of 100. I still think that's a great plan, and wish it had worked out that way. The world is a better place for having had Professor and Dr. Collin Hightower; he touched the lives of many as a parent, an educator, and simply as a friend. And while my friend, Collin, never subscribed to my spiritual beliefs, I like to think that his energy, his essence is still here, as well as his memory. If love is eternal, then so is Collin Hightower, Sr.
January 2, 2015
Dr. Hightower was an inspiration to me. He was kind, humorous, self-honest, incredibly curious, and bright. I pursued an advanced degree, largely because of his inspiration at UCD years ago. I am sad to hear of his passing.
Mike Lundin, Professor of Mathematics, Central Washington University
Collin Hightower
November 25, 2014
Dad, I miss you terribly. I think about you everyday. I hope you are hearing my prayers and feeling how much you are missed.
November 16, 2014
I am so sorry to hear of Dr. Hightower's passing.
He was my undergraduate and graduate advisor at the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). He was one one the most important influences in my life. He helped me to enter and complete a Master's Degree program in mathematics. Other influences at UCD were Tom Clement, Dr.s Vance Faber, Sylvia Liu, Chuck Sherrill and Paul O'Meara.
I took many classes from Dr. Hightower: Advanced Calc II, Number Theory, History of Math, Complex Analysis I&II, Set Theory and Mathematical Logic.
His method of having students put their work on the board in front of the class for selected problems made me very anxious but later gave me much confidence and propelled me to perform at the highest level among my fellow students. It also helped me to become the type of lecturer I am today. I perform my teaching by "doing" mathematics right in front of the students in real-time thanks to Dr. Hightower's method.
UCD did not have a PHD program in Math at the time I went there. I started with Dr. Hightower in 1974, received my BA in 1975 and MA in 1977 in Math under Dr. Hightower as my advisor. I would have continued there for the PHD if they had offered one. In the meantime, even though I had offers for PHD programs from other schools, I got married, had a daughter, who was born in 1977 at the time I received my masters, and needed a regular income. I got a job with a Petroleum Engineering consulting firm (ECA/Critical Resources) and became an Applied Mathematician. There, I learned computer programming which helped me to obtain jobs later in life. I went back to UCD as a part-time instructor (Lecturer) until the beginning of 1983. At that time, due to a crash in the Oil Industry in Colorado, I was laid off and without work. Dr. Hightower had been the Chairman of the Math Dept but Zenas Hartvigson had followed him as chair. Perhaps Dr. Hightower could have helped me in my Math career at that point but I decided instead to apply outside Colorado for work. I was hired by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cal Tech (JPL) in Pasadena. I began to work on spacecraft operating systems and have continued there to this day (31 years). I worked on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, Magellan Mission to Venus and the Mars Exploration Rovers (which I still work on now and for the last 13 years). I am now the Mission Control Team Chief for the Mars Exploration Rover team. We are still operating the Opportunity Rover which has been on Mars for about 11 years coming this January.
Although I lost contact with Dr. Hightower after I moved to California to work at JPL, I always thought about him and what he may have wanted for me in mathematics. I became a part-time lecturer at the Cal Poly Pomona in 1987 and continue there to this day. I now teach Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Differential Equations and Multi Variable Calculus. All of these classes reflect the influence of Dr. Hightower.
He was a very nice and understanding professor. I wish I would have maintained a closer contact with him including when I had a transition back in Colorado in 1983.
I do not know if he knew that I was teaching at Cal Poly but I hope he would have been proud of his legacy. If anyone would like to contact me, my home number is 909-599-0199. Feel free to leave a message and my other contact info is below.
Dr. Hightower was a TREASURE!!! I miss him!
ben miller (MER MCT: 818-393-5172) or (general:909-599-0199) or (urgent/page: 888-424-3191)
Mars Exploration Rover
Mission Control Team Chief
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
DISCLAIMER:
ben said this --- jpl has its own philosophy
V - E + F = 2 : Euler said this (1752)
and
ben miller
Lecturer of Mathematics, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 91768
Contact Info: phone: 909-599-0199, e-mail: [email protected]
Mailing Address:
Ben Miller
P.O. Box 1329
La Canada, Ca. 91012
November 16, 2014
I am so sorry to hear of Dr. Hightower's passing.
He was my undergraduate and graduate advisor at the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD). He was one one the most important influences in my life. He helped me to enter and complete a Master's Degree program in mathematics. Other influences at UCD were Tom Clement, Dr.s Vance Faber, Sylvia Liu, Chuck Sherrill and Paul O'Meara.
I took many classes from Dr. Hightower: Advanced Calc II, Number Theory, History of Math, Complex Analysis I&II, Set Theory and Mathematical Logic.
His method of having students put their work on the board in front of the class for selected problems made me very anxious but later gave me much confidence and propelled me to perform at the highest level among my fellow students. It also helped me to become the type of lecturer I am today. I perform my teaching by "doing" mathematics right in front of the students in real-time thanks to Dr. Hightower's method.
UCD did not have a PHD program in Math at the time I went there. I started with Dr. Hightower in 1974, received my BA in 1975 and MA in 1977 in Math under Dr. Hightower as my advisor. I would have continued there for the PHD if they had offered one. In the meantime, even though I had offers for PHD programs from other schools, I got married, had a daughter, who was born in 1977 at the time I received my masters, and needed a regular income. I got a job with a Petroleum Engineering consulting firm (ECA/Critical Resources) and became an Applied Mathematician. There, I learned computer programming which helped me to obtain jobs later in life. I went back to UCD as a part-time instructor (Lecturer) until the beginning of 1983. At that time, due to a crash in the Oil Industry in Colorado, I was laid off and without work. Dr. Hightower had been the Chairman of the Math Dept but Zenas Hartvigson had followed him as chair. Perhaps Dr. Hightower could have helped me in my Math career at that point but I decided instead to apply outside Colorado for work. I was hired by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cal Tech (JPL) in Pasadena. I began to work on spacecraft operating systems and have continued there to this day (31 years). I worked on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter, Magellan Mission to Venus and the Mars Exploration Rovers (which I still work on now and for the last 13 years). I am now the Mission Control Team Chief for the Mars Exploration Rover team. We are still operating the Opportunity Rover which has been on Mars for about 11 years coming this January.
Although I lost contact with Dr. Hightower after I moved to California to work at JPL, I always thought about him and what he may have wanted for me in mathematics. I became a part-time lecturer at the Cal Poly Pomona in 1987 and continue there to this day. I now teach Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Differential Equations and Multi Variable Calculus. All of these classes reflect the influence of Dr. Hightower.
He was a very nice and understanding professor. I wish I would have maintained a closer contact with him including when I had a transition back in Colorado in 1983.
I do not know if he knew that I was teaching at Cal Poly but I hope he would have been proud of his legacy. If anyone would like to contact me, my home number is 909-599-0199. Feel free to leave a message and my other contact info is below.
Dr. Hightower was a TREASURE!!! I miss him!
ben miller (MER MCT: 818-393-5172) or (general:909-599-0199) or (urgent/page: 888-424-3191)
Mars Exploration Rover
Mission Control Team Chief
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, California
DISCLAIMER:
ben said this --- jpl has its own philosophy
V - E + F = 2 : Euler said this (1752)
and
ben miller
Lecturer of Mathematics, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona 91768
Contact Info: phone: 909-599-0199, e-mail: [email protected]
Mailing Address:
Ben Miller
P.O. Box 1329
La Canada, Ca. 91012
Tina Jolicoeur
October 26, 2014
Lisa, there was so much about your dad I didn't know. Thank you for sharing this and I hope you find comfort knowing I'm thinking of you and hope you are finding some peace. xo Tina
Lisa Schaefer
October 26, 2014
I love you, daddy. I hope that whatever you found that you did find peace. Your kindness and generosity are the traits miss most about you.
My dad to me - playful and fun.
Lisa Schaefer
October 26, 2014
I miss his playful humor and his generous nature. He provided a home for many people who had no place to go.
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