Patricia Ellen Zavadil

Patricia Ellen Zavadil (née Canty) died quietly on January 4th, 2026 in Denver, Colorado at a spectacular ninety years of age.

Patricia was born in Oakland, California on September 19th, 1935 to Tim & Maxine Canty– the middle of three sisters with three little brothers. She grew up and graduated from Holy Names College in Oakland, and went on to Stanford University. There she met the smart and dashing Joe Zavadil when he found her struggling with her broken-down bicycle and offered to drive her to Sunday mass – that week and every week thereafter.

Joe & Pat were married in 1959 and moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico where Joe taught in -and was for a time Chairman of- the English Department at UNM. They raised their six children (“a girl at the beginning, a girl at the end, and four boys in the middle”) in a house at the foot of Hyder Park. Patricia taught for many years in the Albuquerque Public Schools, first as a sub and later high school English and math. Joe died, far too soon, in 1992. Patricia retired a few years later, travelled and attended Bridge tournaments with her sister Barbara, and moved to Denver in 2006 to focus on being GrammaZ.

Somehow, Joe & Pat got all six of the kids to mass *on time* every week for years on end. She cheerfully served Sunday dinners on her Good china long after the plates chipped and the serving bowls had to be glued back together. She ran the sterling silver through the dishwasher and inventoried the black olives in each can to be sure they were distributed equally (“each of you gets five-and-one-third”). She secreted away all of her best treats (Flaky pastry? Green chile enchiladas?) hoping the kids wouldn’t find them. The house on Hyder Park burst at the seams and the big kids once hid the little ones from her in holes they dug in the backyard. Whether crossing the Mojave in the Greenbriar van (no air conditioning) or the red VW bus (no seatbelts; tricky clutch) on the way to visit the cousins in California, she liked little more than for the kids to sing “Cover of the Rolling Stone” as they banged around in the back. Even as mother to six, Patricia rarely lost her cool - when she heard bickering from the kids’ bedrooms, she’d stealthily shut the door at the top of the stairs and get back to her book.

Patricia always and easily assumed the best of people. She was quick to laugh and could ask questions until it bordered on an interrogation (“It’s what?”). She claimed that her greatest accomplishment was her six children… but a close second had to be that glorious semester in the early 50’s when all three Canty girls were awarded the Gold A for grade point average at Holy Names High School. Or maybe the Halloween she was Superman - with Joe her telephone booth (she never met a costume she couldn’t create).

Patricia was preceded in death by her husband Joe, her “Irish Twin” sister Joan and her brother Tim. We, her children, Mary (Greg Gutierrez), Joe Jr., Peter (Penny Arth), John, Tom (Dean Lindsey), Betsy (Josh Davis) and grandchildren Gabriel, Joe, Elena & Paul Gutierrez, Lilly & Jonathan Davis and Jack Zavadil will long remember the happy smile on her face when she caught sight of any of us. We will chuckle about her insistence on piping hot coffee and the always consistent format of her voicemail messages (“Oh!!! Hi *Insert name here*, it’s your Mom”).

She also leaves behind her sister Barbara, brothers Jim and Bob, sisters-in-law Dena and “The Other Pat Canty” as well as many nieces and nephews.

Funeral Mass will be held Friday January 9th at 10:30, Blessed Sacrament Church, 4900 Montview Boulevard in Denver. Visitation begins at 10:00. Patricia will be buried next to Joe in Albuquerque. Any and all are welcome to A Celebration of Patricia’s Life at Mary & Greg’s house (5221 East 17th Avenue Parkway) Saturday March 7th at 11:00 when The Whole Gang can be there for stories, black olives, flaky pastries and green chile enchiladas.