Patricia Bardwell Tooley

With sorrow we announce that Patricia (Pat) Bardwell Tooley, 83, passed away peacefully on Friday September 13th, 2024 from natural causes. We’d like to think that Pat would have a little laugh at the fact that she passed on Friday the 13th. Pat was born in Pennsylvania on December 29th, 1940 to Elizabeth (Betty) and Marcel (Cel) Peck, the middle sibling between Betsy and Chris Peck. Pat attended Connecticut College and the University of Colorado at Boulder. She worked as an educator, teacher’s aid, daycare provider, Girl Scout leader, Murphy girl, and ended her career helping run the Technology Information Center (TIC) for the US Geological Survey. In her free time, Pat loved crafting and sewing, always making costumes and holiday gifts for friends and family. She loved to read, color, complete crosswords and puzzles, and always had some sporting event on the television which she usually watched alongside her husband of 57 years, Ivan. She was a lifelong Rockies and Broncos fan, and in the last few years became addicted to watching Arsenal soccer club. She loved her family and kept  them at the center of her life.

 Pat was loving, funny, caring, thoughtful, and so easy to talk to- she never met a stranger in her life. She carried these qualities even into the last few weeks of her life and, despite having trouble speaking, still found ways to give her nurses, daughters and husband a hard time, remaining her feisty self. We will all always remember giving her a call on the phone and having her answer with her typical sassy “What?” as if we were interrupting a pivotal moment of her day. This never failed to bring a smile to our faces and a laugh- she always knew just the right way to lift someone’s spirits no matter what they were experiencing. We will miss her dearly, but know that has always asked us to celebrate her life with love, joy, and companionship, just the way that she chose to live.

 Pat is survived and remembered by her husband Ivan Tooley, brother Chris (Barb) Peck, daughter Allison (Bruce) Zieger, daughter Amy (Mike) DeNeice, grandkids Alexis (Johnny) Bernazzani-DeNeice, Meghan Zieger, Matt Zieger, and Chloe DeNeice. A celebration of life will be scheduled for a future date. In lieu of flowers please send gifts to Douglas County  Libraries Foundation https://www.dcl.org/donate/ or Jefferson County Library Foundation https://www.coloradogives.org/donate/JeffCoLibrary.