Patsy Houlihan

Patsy Connors Houlihan passed away on May 3, 2022 at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Denver, Colorado after a series of health challenges. She was 69 years old.

A Denver native who lived within blocks of where she was born, Patsy was the only daughter of John Francis Connors and Margaret Moore Connors. She grew up in a loving household overflowing with neighbors and friends, many of whom she kept in close contact with through Facebook, phone calls and visits, making her extended family much larger than her immediate one.

Patsy went to Our Lady of Lourdes grammar school and then to Cathedral High School. She was an avid girl scout in her youth, the head-cheerleader in her teens, and she spent her childhood summers making memories during backyard picnics and visits with her mom’s cousins in Minnesota.

Later, she traveled the country with her daughter, Bridget, and husband, Tom, when Bridget at age 12 was the national child representative for the disability service organization Easterseals.

Patsy met Tom in high school, they fell in love, and they were married on September 8, 1973 just as Patsy finished college at the University of Northern Colorado and began her teaching career at Central Catholic High School. She later earned her Master’s degree in Education from the University of Colorado.

Patsy taught at several schools during her tenure including Mapleton High School, York Junior High and Arrupe Jesuit High School. She also taught several subjects and was the director of many a school play, taking on ambitious theater productions like “George M,” “Brigadoon,” and “Charlotte’s Web.”

But her favorite topic to teach was mathematics to seventh and eighth graders, and she continued to tutor neighbors and friends in math even after retiring. She also put her math skills to use in quilting, one of her favorite hobbies. She often made creative quilts for her loved ones - I-spy quilts, theme quilts and baby quilts.

Patsy and Tom’s daughter Bridget was born with Cerebral Palsy in May 1978, and Patsy was a devoted mother from day one, supporting Bridget fully in her every endeavor, even though she wished Bridget, now a long-time Chicagoan, lived a little closer to home.

After being diagnosed with liver cancer, Patsy was given the gift of a second chance at life when she had a successful liver transplant in June 2016. She was able to connect with and get to know her donor’s family in recent years, and she was deeply grateful. She has now become an organ donor herself.

Patsy will be remembered for her generous spirit, positive outlook, and for the many lives she touched.

She is survived by her husband Thomas Michael Houlihan, her daughter, Bridget Houlihan Hayman, her son-in-law, George Joseph Hayman, and the Houlihan family’s fifth Golden Retriever, Daisy, who is named in loving memory of Patsy’s liver donor. Pasty also leaves behind many loving cousins.

In lieu of flowers, please become an organ donor and/or send remembrances in Patsy’s name to Easterseals Colorado, Rocky Mountain Village Camp.

https://secure.easterseals.com/site/Donation2?idb=1301062156&df_id=17866&mfc_pref=T&17866.donation=form1&s_subsrc=afftopnav&s_src=donatenow&pk_vid=88137e9a65ea9dc016521979045e460f&NONCE_TOKEN=481EBC1E9C9DABDD1BABC028718D7C6E

All are welcome to join us for Patsy’s Funeral Mass, which will be celebrated at 10 a.m., on Friday, June 3, at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, 2298 S. Logan St. in Denver. A reception will be held after Mass at the church. Interment of ashes will follow at 1:30 p.m. at Mount Olivet Cemetery, 12801 W. 44th Ave. in Wheat Ridge.

For everyone’s safety, and in honor of our immediate family’s wishes, we ask that all attendees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or that they wear masks to participate in the celebration. Thank you.