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E-mail This StoryJack Hatchell’s more than 30 years as a leader and public servant ended on Saturday as he lost his battle with cancer and died in his sleep at his home in Plano at the age of 70. Hatchell was a Collin County commissioner for Precinct 4.
Hatchell served on the Commissioner’s Court since 1986 and also served on the Plano City Council from 1975 to 1985.
Hatchell worked as a transportation engineer for many large engineering firms and during his later part of his life he worked as an independent consultant. He also worked in his earlier years as a traffic engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation.
Hatchell helped plan many of Collin County’s roads and thoroughfares, including the President George W. Bush Turnpike, State Highway 121 and the Dallas North Tollway extensions in Collin County.
His tenure and leadership on the Commissioner’s Court earned him the prestigious William J. Pitstick Regional Excellence Award on June 13 from the North Central Texas Council of Governments, which is the NCTCOG’s highest award.
Hatchell was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in the summer of 2004. He underwent chemotherapy at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Doctors pronounced him free of cancer in the spring of 2005, but the cancer later reappeared in his lungs, said his wife Pat Hatchell on Monday. Hatchell died in his sleep after he laid down on Saturday afternoon to take a nap, Mrs. Hatchell said.
Hatchell was undergoing chemotherapy and continued to attend Commissioner’ Court meetings while he underwent treatment. His last meeting was June 23.
Mrs. Hatchell said that her husband brought a lot of prayer to the decisions he made during his public service.
“He always stuck to his core values, and felt that it was important to do the right thing and to do what is fair. He felt like he was a public servant and loved serving the public. I was at a meeting the other day and someone said that Jack was always a cool head and had a calming effect on the decision-making process. Jack was always very logical and could get to the core of the problem. He tried to meet everybody’s needs,” Mrs. Hatchell said.
The couple was married for 47 years and had a vacation planned in Arkansas in the upcoming weeks, Mrs. Hatchell said.
“I knew that he was ill and I didn’t think that it was eminent for sure. I had the highest hopes that he would get better,” Mrs. Hatchell said. “Jack was very softhearted and I always had to be careful about telling Jack what I wanted for gifts because he would bend over backward to get it.”
Commissioner Phyllis Cole said Monday that Hatchell’s death was a surprise to everyone because he had been doing really well with his chemotherapy treatments.
“He laid down on Saturday afternoon to take a nap, and died in his sleep. It was the way everybody would like to leave,” Cole said. “His death is a great loss for all of us, particularly for Collin County. Jack was always a very good mediator and a strong leader on transportation. I think Collin County is really going to miss his expertise in the transportation areas.”
|Commissioner Jerry Hoagland said on Monday that he will miss Hatchell, whom he served with for 30 years, both on the Plano City Council and on the Commissioner’s Court.
"I think people will miss his input on transportation issues. He knew the capability of the engineering firms and kept up with everything that was going on in transportation,” Hoagland said. “We were friends and had our disagreements over the years, and 95 percent of the time we voted the same way on things. Jack had a tremendous ability to take into account the competing factions of whatever was going on, and he was a great mediator.”
Hoagland also said that he didn’t expect his friend to die so soon.
“He was very sick and I really didn’t think he was going to die so soon. It’s just one of those things, and you’re never really prepared for it when it happens,” Hoagland said.
Commission Joe Jaynes said on Monday that losing Hatchell was a big loss for the county, and that he will miss his friend.
“Jack always said, ‘Everyday was a gift from God.’ In my view, to work with Jack and to have him as a friend, that itself was a gift from God. When he became a county commissioner, Collin County was still a rural county, and Jack played a major part of transforming Collin County from a rural county to one of the fastest growing counties in the country,” Jaynes said.
“Jack was a great mediator. I know he taught me how to be a better listener, thinker and hopefully a better person,” Jaynes said.
Collin County Judge Keith Self said on Monday that Hatchell was a true professional and a delight to work with.
“He had seen everything in the transportation field, and was a really nice guy who will be missed,” Self said.
Former Collin County Judge Ron Harris, who filled Hatchell’s seat on the Plano City Council after Hatchell was elected to the Commissioner’s Court, said on Monday he thought the world of Hatchell.
“I think Jack needs to first be remembered as a Christian leader, then as a family man, and then as a servant leader in his elected offices he held. He was always a peacemaker and always thinking of the citizens. He had credibility with just about anybody,” Harris said.
“He gave the court so much free guidance and counsel in transportation issues that was invaluable. The main thing is that he can always be remembered as to what he left behind: the family, the infrastructure and the good he did for the people he served,” Harris said. Commissioner’s Court administrator Bill Bilyeu said that Hatchell was “just a sweet, sweet man who will be missed.”
“The few times I ever saw him get angry he apologized to the person he was angry with, and they might not have even deserved the apology,” Bilyeu said.
Kathy Ward, chairwoman of the Collin County Republican Party, described Hatchell as a gentleman, and said his death is a big loss for Collin County.
“He was a gentleman all of the time and was a class act. He always had a smile on his face and was respected by everyone. He stood up for what he believed in and always conducted himself with the upmost class,” Ward said.
A memorial service for Hatchell will be held at 4 p.m. on Wednesday at the Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, where he was a longtime member. A private burial service will be held prior to the memorial service.
Hatchell is survived by his wife; daughters, Amy Briggs of McKinney and Beth Jamison of Frisco, and grandson Jack Jamison of Frisco.
Hatchell was re-elected to a four-year term on the court in 2006. Self, as county judge, can appoint someone to fill Hatchell’s seat, and that person can serve from now until the November election. Self said on Monday that he will appoint someone very soon, but did not give a time frame of when that would be.
Precinct chairs of both the Collin County Republican Party and the Democratic Party of Collin County will be able to nominate someone to be on the ballot in the November general election to fill Hatchell’s vacancy.
Ward added that officials in the Collin County Republic Party have not yet discussed who the party will nominate to be on the ballot in the November election as everyone was still upset about Hatchell’s death.
Dan Dodd, Democratic Party of Collin County chairman, a message left at the party’s headquarters.
Mrs. Hatchell said that everyone can pray that the best possible replacement will be appointed to fill her husband’s vacancy on the court between now and November, and for the long term.
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