{"id":35275,"date":"2023-03-14T10:53:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-rep-pat-schroeder-dies-at-82\/"},"modified":"2023-03-14T16:53:56","modified_gmt":"2023-03-14T16:53:56","slug":"former-rep-pat-schroeder-dies-at-82","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/former-rep-pat-schroeder-dies-at-82\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Rep. Pat Schroeder dies at 82"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Pat
Pat Schroeder speaks during an interview at the Los Angeles Convention Center in April 1999. Schroeder, a former Colorado representative and pioneer for women\u2019s and family rights in Congress, died Monday night at the age of 82. Schroeder\u2019s former press secretary, Andrea Camp, said she suffered a stroke recently and died at a hospital in Florida, the state where she had been living. (Nick Ut\/Associated Press file)<\/span>Nick Ut<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Coloradans and people elsewhere are remembering former U.S. Rep. Pat Schroeder, a trailblazer who paved the way for women\u2019s rights in national and local politics. She died Monday at 82.<\/p>\n

\u201cRep. Schroeder was a one-of-a-kind leader and barrier breaker,\u201d said Gov. Jared Polis in a statement late Monday. \u201cOur daughter\u2019s future and women across our country\u2019s future are better thanks to her service.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder was the first woman to represent Colorado in Congress. She had a stroke recently and died at a hospital in Florida, where she had been living, said her former press secretary, Andrea Camp.<\/p>\n

Schroeder paved the way for women\u2019s and family issues in Congress and helped push for the passage of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.<\/p>\n

In the male-dominated halls of Congress, she was known for her quick wit and barbs. She coined the phrase \u201cTeflon President\u201d for former President Ronald Reagan, a moniker that still sticks for any politician who can avoid blame. When asked how as a mother of two young children, she\u2019d balance Congress and her family, she famously replied, \u201cI have a brain and a uterus and I use both.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polis knew her since he was a child and described her as a mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe championed family leave, health care and equal rights. She was known and loved for her incredible sharp wit,\u201d he said in a post on his Facebook page. \u201cHer passion, her love for country will be missed not only by those who knew her, but by our whole state and the entire nation. Farewell Pat, and thank you for being uniquely yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder served as national co-chairwoman for then Colorado Sen. Gary Hart\u2019s presidential run in 1987. Hart described her as a longtime dear friend and very effective member of Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was highly intelligent and took the responsibilities of public service seriously. The citizens of the first Congressional District could not have had a better representative for those 24 years than Pat,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cShe left the House a better place than when she joined it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Denver area Rep. Diana DeGette, who was elected to Schroeder\u2019s seat, praised her as \u201ca trailblazer, a role model, a mentor and a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPat was elected to Congress when I was in high school and she inspired a generation of young women, like me, to dream high,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cShe became a mentor and dear friend after I succeeded her, and I am eternally thankful, not only for all of the incredible work she did for our state, but for the guidance and friendship she provided along the way. My condolences to Jim, Scott and Jamie during this difficult time. Pat\u2019s brilliance, passion and wit will never be duplicated, but will always be remembered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder may have been a congressional trailblazer from Colorado, but it would be awhile before more women would break through. Until 2021, there were never more than two women in the Colorado congressional delegation at a time. Now there are four.<\/p>\n

Former Republican Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell served with Schroeder in the House.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was a good friend,\u201d he said. \u201cBut one of the things I remember about her was her fantastic sense of humor. She could find something funny in almost anything. And I enjoyed serving with her. And she really was a wonderful friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also said she was a good Democrat, but wasn\u2019t always \u201cthe Democrat that all Democrats wanted her to be because she crossed over and supported Republican concepts a number of times, too, as I remember.\u201d<\/p>\n

GOP Rep. Ken Buck described Schroeder as \u201ca fighter and trailblazer for the causes she believed in. My prayers are with her family, friends and loved ones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic Rep. Joe Neguse, the first African American Colorado elected to Congress, also sent condolences to Schroeder\u2019s family.<\/p>\n

He said, \u201cAn incredible public servant and historic trailblazer, Pat Schroeder\u2019s countless contributions to the state of Colorado and our country will truly have a lasting impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democratic Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi described Schroeder as \u201can effective legislative force, whose bold vision and firm values helped deliver progress for America\u2019s women, service members and working families.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was my great personal privilege to serve with Congresswoman Schroeder, whom many of us consider one of the bravest women to ever serve in the halls of Congress,\u201d she said in a statement. \u201cHer courage and persistence leave behind an indelible legacy of progress and have inspired countless women in public service to follow in her footsteps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney served with Schroeder in Congress and described her as a consequential feminist leader who loved Colorado. Maloney said she was heartbroken.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great loss for Colorado, for the country, for women,\u201d she said. \u201cShe accomplished so much and she was a trailblazing, monumental leader.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maloney said Schroeder was the chairwoman of the women\u2019s caucus her first year in office and often it was just the two of them in the room. She also described Schroeder as \u201ca great strategist.\u201d She noted that when Rep. Newt Gingrich was appointed Speaker and started chipping away at women\u2019s rights with actions on the floor, Schroeder \u201chad all of us on beeper and would get us to the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe initiated projects and actions and worked hard to get things done. I thought she was an incredible person and leader \u2026 When she left (Congress) it was a great loss. I loved her counsel, her advice and leadership,\u201d Maloney said.<\/p>\n

Another woman who benefited from Schroeder\u2019s outspokenness was law professor Anita Hill. Schroeder was one of seven congresswomen to march to the Senate<\/a> in 1991 and demand that Clarence Thomas\u2019 Supreme Court confirmation be delayed so that Hill could be heard. \u201cIt just showed me that the leadership was there in Washington \u2026 with the ability to speak to women\u2019s lived experiences and the understanding that what was happening in that moment was going to affect women\u2019s political power for the rest of, at least, that decade.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back at Schroeder\u2019s career, Hill said it was clear that the Colorado congresswoman was ready to lead.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe continued to lead, even after she retired, to be a thought leader. She was very outspoken about gender equity and equality, whether it was economic equality, whether it was Title IX in sports or whether it was Title IX anti-harassment and sexual assault,\u201d said Hill, who is now a professor at Brandeis University. \u201cShe continued to be that leader and she was so bold and so smart that she didn\u2019t limit her voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former New York Rep. Nita Lowey was one of the Democrats that marched to the Senate with Schroeder.<\/p>\n

Like many others, she called Schroeder a role model.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was strong, she was wise, she was smart \u2026 she was there to give advice to women such as myself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u2018A great strategist\u2019<\/div>\n

Schroeder was born July 30, 1940, in Portland, Oregon. She was a pilot who paid for college tuition with her own flying service. She graduated from the University of Minnesota before earning her law degree in 1964. From 1964 to 1966, she was a field attorney for the National Labor Relations Board.<\/p>\n

In 1972, Schroeder ran for Congress without support from the Democratic Party. She won that race, and at 32 became the youngest member of Congress, at that time. She sailed to reelection 11 times in the Denver-based first congressional district.<\/p>\n

After Gary Hart withdrew from the presidential race in 1987, Schroeder briefly ran for president. In her campaign announcement speech at Denver\u2019s Civic Center Park, she said she was running to change minds about what women could do in politics.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said that I wanted America to see me as a candidate for president who was a woman rather than a woman\u2019s candidate and label me and pigeonhole me. Because I felt my qualifications were every bit as good, and had my name been Patrick, that\u2019s how they would have treated it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In 2016, Schroeder told Colorado Matters that at the time she ran, the U.S. was far from electing a woman as president.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fact at that time, we were getting polls showing that 25% of people were saying that they wouldn\u2019t vote for a woman for president,\u201d she said. \u201cBut the number was even higher if you asked them if they had friends that would not vote for president. And I tended to believe the second one even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she withdrew from the presidential race, she was criticized, including by some women, for tearing up in the middle of her speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became who could lecture me the most on that,\u201d said Schroeder, who kept a file of male politicians who cried. \u201cAnd yet men were weeping all the time. Sports guys, (John) Sununu, President Regan. So really it was kind of a different standard.\u201d<\/p>\n

She joked that she kept waiting to hear \u201cthese scathing things about how (former House Speaker John Boehner) ruined men\u2019s chances for the rest of the century.\u201d Boehner developed a reputation for crying and choking up.<\/p>\n

When asked if she thought she\u2019d see a woman president in her lifetime, she said, \u201cI had always hoped, but I really worry I won\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schroeder is survived by her husband, James W. Schroeder, whom she married in 1962. Also surviving are their two children, Scott and Jamie, and her brother, Mike Scott, as well as four grandchildren.<\/p>\n

To read more stories from Colorado Public Radio, visit www.cpr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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