Ann Patrice Patino

Ann led a long and vibrant life as a devoted and loving mother, friend, colleague, and community member. Her life was filled with service to others, joie de’vivre, intellectual curiosity, and a sense of civic duty.

At an early age, Ann began taking care of others, serving as a Dominacanette while attending Cathedral High School in Denver, then graduating and joining the convent as a Dominican Sister of the Sick Poor for 15 years. In the convent, she trained as a nurse graduating from one of the first Bachelor of Science accredited nursing programs in the country at Mount St. Joseph’s College in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a nun, she provided home-based nursing care for low-income people and immigrant families living in the Bronx, New York, and inner-city Boston.

Although Ann left the convent because she wanted a family, her commitment to nursing remained steadfast. She worked as a hospital nurse in Casper, Wyoming, and Boston, Massachusetts. When she and her family moved to Denver, Ann continued working as a nurse, then manager of low-income and senior high rises. Before she retired, she returned to home health care with Lutheran. Her favorite patient setting was in home health nursing, as she fervently believed in taking care of patients in a holistic manner, in the context of their lives and families- a sentiment she held until her final days.

In addition to her love of family and helping others, Ann enjoyed reading and was a prolific reader of thousands of books over her lifetime, across all manner of genres. She was also politically engaged and a stalwart Democrat, who often wrote politicians to either laud or challenge their political work. She was passionate about Native American rights and reparations- the renaming of Mount Evans to Mount Blue Sky in honor of indigenous Arapaho and Cheyanne tribes was a moment of joyful reckoning for her.

She loved the arts, and even acted in local theater productions, or as ‘Patimbo the clown’ entertaining children and elderly residents of senior housing. She had a great affinity for Colorado’s many wonders of nature and especially loved the mountains and trees. Indeed, she was a force of nature herself!

Ann also loved traveling and prided herself on having visited fifty states and various global destinations from the far reaches of Darwin, Australia to Russia, to her father’s homeland of Scotland. She cherished long holidays in Glasgow and Helensburgh with her kindred spirit cousin Anne Conlon and the Dickson Family.

She was a devoted correspondent to many, often sending out hundreds of Christmas cards a year, many to people she regularly corresponded with for decades. We will miss finding her greeting cards in our mailboxes! Ann’s ‘love language’ was also gift and charitable giving; she always had thoughtful gifts for her visitors and caregivers and supported many charitable organizations.

Ann is predeceased by her husband of 49 years, Felix Garcia Patino, her parents, James, and Pauline Doherty, along with her brothers Dennis (sister-in-law Josphine) and Paul. She is survived by her children and grandchildren: Julie, Elena, Jimmy (son Aiden), Michael (daughter-in-law Traci, and their children- Kaylee, Tanner, and Brady). She is also survived by her sisters Maureen and Shelia Doherty.

In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Ann by contributing to her long-term charitable interests: Doctors Without Borders, Rocky Mountain PBS, or the Lakota Way Healing Center. You could also honor her by voting for Kamala Harris in the upcoming election- she had hoped to live long enough to cast this vote!

A celebration of life will be held at a later time.