Pat Pascoe may have started her life in the small Wisconsin town of Sparta (population about 5,000 people), but she went on to improve the lives of Coloradoans by serving in the Colorado State Senate for 12 years, supporting legislation for the preschool project and a ban on assault weapons. She helped monitor Denver Public Schools (DPS) during desegregation efforts. 

Pat’s ancestors immigrated to Wisconsin in the 1850’s, where they were dairy and wheat farmers. She was the youngest of three daughters. When she was 18 months old, her father passed away from pneumonia at a time when penicillin was not yet available. Her mother went to work and became a valued payroll and accounting manager at the local Army base, Camp McCoy.

Pat remembers Sparta as being a lovely place to grow up. She began piano lessons at five years of age, went to the movies, had a kitten, walked to school and spent time with friends. She admired her paternal grandmother who was independent and hard working. She rose at 5am, baked pies and hung laundry before anyone else got up. Her Dad’s family was particularly close and Pat spent time with her many cousins.  

After the war, her mother was uncertain about where she might find a civil service job, so Pat went to live with her paternal aunt and uncle in Glendale, California for one year.   Pat and her sisters returned home when her mother took a job with the Military Pay Division and moved the family to St. Louis. Then, three years later, her mom was given the choice of moving to Indianapolis with the Army or Denver  with the Air Force and she chose Denver’s Air Force Finance Center. 

In Denver, Pat attended Aurora High School her junior and senior years and after graduation, attended the University of Colorado on a scholarship. Fortuitously, during her freshman year, she went on a blind date and met Monte Pascoe, who was home for spring break from Dartmouth College. For the next three and a half years, Pat and Monte saw each other during holidays and summers and wrote letters back and forth. Not long after graduation in 1957, Pat and Monte were married. 

Monte attended Stanford Law School while Pat taught school and supported their new life together. After Monte was accepted into a Denver law practice, they returned to Denver and began raising a family. Monte became involved in the Denver Democratic Party, serving as the State Democratic Party Chairman, running Hubert Humphrey’s campaign in Colorado and making runs for the Denver School Board and for Denver Mayor. Having become an expert in water law, conservation, water rights, river health and water storage, Monte was appointed by Governor Lamm as the Director of Colorado Natural Resources Department. Later, Mayor Federico Peña appointed him to lead the Denver Board of Water Commissioners, where he served for 12 years. He died in 2006.

After Monte’s run for the school board on a desegregation platform, Pat became involved in DPS Court ordered supervision of their desegregation efforts. She and a team of others were tasked with making sure that every school in Denver Public Schools was visited twice a year to ensure effective desegregation. Pat wrote a  book on the subject, A Dream of Justice: The Story of Keyes v. Denver Public Schools. Pat returned to school for a master’s and Ph.D. in English from University of Denver. She taught English at Kent School, Metro and D.U. 

In 1988, Pat ran for a Colorado Senate seat in Denver. She not only won; she served three terms, totaling 12 years. Her areas of interest and concern were education and improving the lives of women and children. She sponsored bills on preschool, childcare, bilingual education and gun control (which generated threats on her life), and was successful passing bills reducing wood smoke pollution, providing spousal protection, freedom of press for students and creating an organ donor registry. She chaired the Public Policy and Planning Committee and the Education Committee in the Senate, as well as the Senate Democratic Caucus.

Pat and Monte were married 49 years and, together, were a powerhouse team of dedicated, energetic public servants who motivated, organized, researched and helped people all over Colorado from Montview to the state capitol. They had four children, one of whom did not survive infancy. Sarah taught social studies in high schools in Douglas County and then became an instructional coach. She was the first teacher in her school to win the Apple Award presented to an outstanding teacher. Ted started his social justice work by spending two and a half years in the Peace Corp in Senegal before returning to Denver. He is the Executive Director of Senior Support Services, Denver’s only day-shelter exclusively for people 60 years and older, providing meals, support for housing and medical care, as well as emotional, behavioral and crisis support. Will, who battled cystic fibrosis, worked in political offices in Washington before returning to Denver where he worked in the state property tax exemption division before his health forced him to retire.  He passed away in 2018. Pat has one grandson who is a biologist.

In 2011, Pat wrote: Helen Ring Robinson, Colorado, Senator and Suffragist. Mrs. Robinson was the first woman state senator in Colorado, elected in 1912, before any woman served in the U.S. Congress or the British Parliament. (One can find this book in Montview’s library.)

Monte grew up in Montview and Pat and Monte raised their children in the fold of Montview’s Sunday School and youth groups. Pat and Monte were very involved in Montview as elders, members of pastor search committees, and serving on lectureship committees bringing outstanding speakers to Montview. Pat worked on the committee to integrate the church in the 1970s, served on the mission and education committees, was a Sunday School teacher, and for many years sang in the choir. Monte read every book about Paul that he could find. He and Pat went to Greece and Turkey “following in the footsteps of Paul.”  When he returned home, he taught a class about Paul at Montview.

Currently, Pat streams the Sunday services and programs and periodically attends special events. She continues to be interested in current events, US politics, music, renaissance literature, attends a book group and plays the piano. 

One surprising and little-known event in Pat and Monte’s life was that on a trip to New York City, a friend got them an appearance on the TV quiz show Two for the Money. While they had fun, they were a little embarrassed at their TV notoriety.  They did win $500!

Pat credits her longevity to ‘luck’ but feels grateful every day for the life that she has been able to enjoy and for her many opportunities and experiences. She readily praises Monte for the unexpected avenues that he opened in their lives, the novel ideas that he was always coming up with and the family that they both cherished and nurtured.

– Submitted by Brooke Durland