Rifle Remembers Pat Cook 93-Year-Old Choir Singer and Mother

Rifle —The air in Rifle is crisp, carrying the faint, dry scent of sagebrush and cooling pavement as the morning light hits the windows of Grand River Care Center. It is a quiet kind of stillness, the type that settles over a town when someone who has been a constant, humming presence in its life passes away.

Did you know that the woman who spent decades singing in local choirs and cheering on the Broncos from a living room armchair is gone?

Patricia Ann “Pat” Cook, 93, died peacefully on Sunday, October 18, at the care center. According to the Post Independent, her life was a long arc that began in Madison, Wisconsin, and ended here on the Western Slope. She was born on June 14, 1933, to Clarence Allen and Othelia Cleasby. The obituary notes that she described her childhood as happy, a sentiment that clearly stuck with her. She carried the gentleness of her mother and the wit of her father into every room she entered, whether it was a classroom in the 1950s or a church hall in Rifle.

Pat’s path to Colorado was not accidental; it was a deliberate pivot. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a B.S. in Education in 1955, where she met Charles Edward Cook. They married in San Antonio, Texas, in 1956, where Chuck was stationed in the Army. For a time, Pat taught elementary school, but she eventually stepped back from that career to raise their five children. Then, in 1972, Chuck accepted a promotion that moved the family west. That decision planted Pat’s roots in Colorado, and she never pulled them up again.

If you look closely at her life’s details, there is a warmth to the way she engaged with the world. Her Christian faith was central, but it wasn’t abstract; it was practical and vocal. The Post Independent reports that she shared a soaring soprano voice in choirs, often singing to brighten others’ days. She served on committees to provide for those in need, a role that required both patience and a sharp ear. She was also a trivia champion, the kind of person who could rattle off historical dates or scientific facts with such confidence that any game night became a true contest.

Her family was her anchor and her passion. Pat is survived by five children: Tom Cook of Bruneau, Idaho; Amy Conrad of Lakewood, Colorado; Charles Cook of Rifle; Mary Wheeler of Rifle; and Judy Drake of Grand Junction. She is also survived by 11 grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren, and her sister Rita Honnold in Madison. Those who knew her remember her cheerfulness and easy laughter, a spirit that buoyed her children through challenges. She followed the busy lives of her grandchildren with curiosity and pride, cherishing every call, text, and visit from her extended family.

Pat was preceded in death by her husband Chuck, her parents, her grandson Steven Cook, and her brothers Jim and Jack Cleasby.

A service will be held at Grand River Care Center in Rifle at 10:30 AM on November 7, 2026. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorials be made to Rifle United Methodist Presbyterian Church at 200 E. 4th St., Rifle, CO 81650.

As the sun dips lower over the valley on this final day of her life, you can feel it in the quiet: a space has opened up where her voice used to be. The church pews will feel emptier, the trivia nights less competitive, and the living rooms a little too silent. But the kindness she gave out is still here, lingering in the people who received it, waiting to be passed on.