Obituary
Patricia Winifred Menke Conrad

Patricia Winifred (Menke) Conrad was born July 30, 1917, at Exeter, Nebraska and moved with her family to a farm near Vernon, Colorado, when four years old. She died at the age of 95 on August 30, 2012.
 
The oldest of the three children of William and Constie (Emanuel) Menke, Patricia grew up in the Vernon and Wray, Colorado area. She attended Glendale School and graduated from Vernon High School at the age of sixteen before entering Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado).
 
After two years of college, Pat returned to Vernon to teach elementary school (Vernon Grade School and Union Ridge School near Laird). It was when she returned to school at Colorado State University that Pat met Edwin Joseph (Joe) Conrad, her future husband. Pat met Joe when she mistook him for a friend of hers who was in actuality Joe's closest friend from Joe's hometown of Louviers, Colorado.
 
During the next five years, Pat received her bachelor's degree from Greeley, taught school in Erie, Colorado, and worked for a short time at Boeing in Seattle, Washington, and as a case worker at the Yuma County Welfare Department.
 
Shortly after Joe returned from his World War II military service, Pat and Joe were married in Wray, Colorado, at St. Andrew's Catholic Church on April 22, 1946. For approximately a year, Pat and Joe lived on the ranch originally homesteaded by Joe's grandfather Charles Conrad southwest of Denver. They then moved to Wray where Joe and Pat designed and built their home south of Wray, next door to Pat's parents, Constie and Billie Menke. Their home was only a few miles from the original homestead established in the 1800's by Pat's maternal grandparents John M. and Winifred Higgins Emanuel.
 
Pat and Joe lived in their Wray home for sixty years. In it they raised their five children: William Joseph, Ann Denise, Constance Alice, Robert John, and Kevin Patrick.
 
Pat taught for the Wray Public School System, first at Wray Junior-Senior High School, and then at Buchanan Middle School. After twenty-one years of service, she retired from fulltime teaching in 1978. Pat was involved in various community, church and social organizations including St. Andrew's Alter and Rosary Society, Sorosis, extension clubs, bridge clubs and Pinochle Club, a group of young couples who met one Sunday night a month starting in 1949 and continuing until their final gathering on New Year's Eve 2000.
 
A devout Catholic, Patricia was a member of St. Andrew's Parish for over ninety years, first attending Mass in the original church building which her Grandfather Emanuel helped build near Flirtation Point; then in the new church to which her father and husband devoted hours of manual labor to build; and, most recently, in the current St. Andrew's Church building.
 
Pat was preceded in death by husband Joe, her parents, her brothers Lewis E. Menke and Little Bill Menke, brothers-in-law Ralph and Don Conrad, sister-in-law Virginia Cushing and several nephews and nieces.
 
Patricia is survived by her five children and their families including fifteen grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren as well as numerous special nephews and nieces. Her family includes:

Oldest son Bill and Linda Conrad of Wray, their daughter Devon (Bruce) Witte and children Cole and Jenna of Bakersfield, California; and their son Chris (Audrey) Conrad and children Elizabeth, Will and Emily of Gretna, Nebraska.
 
Oldest daughter Denise Conrad of Great Falls, Montana.
 
Third child Connie and Art Strobel of Bethune, Colorado, their daughter Andrea (Matt) Guynes and children Adam and Lanie of Henrietta, Oklahoma; their daughter Stephanie Strobel and her son Tyson of Ft. Collins, Colorado; their daughter Karman (Seth) Ebright and children Kade and Kandyce of Burlington, Colorado; their son David (Karli) Strobel and newborn son Gavin of Bethune; their son Billy (Jessica) and children Jamie and Julia of Bethune; and their John Patrick Strobel of Bethune.
 
Fourth child Bob (Sandy) Conrad of Hawaii and Florida and their children: Cameron (Samantha) and son Harley of Gainsville, Florida; son John (Sara) and children Finn and Kylie of Boyton Beach, Florida and daughter Amy of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Youngest son Kevin and Leslie Conrad of Woodland Park and their four sons: Jesse (Brandy) of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Luke of Colorado Springs, Mick (Rachel) of San Luis Obispo, California, and Dillon of Fort Collins, Colorado.
 
Before his death in February 2006, Pat and her husband Joe shared almost sixty years together. Both with him and then after his passing, Pat provided a legacy of love, grace and care for her extended family, her friends, her community and her church.
 
On Tuesday, September 4, 2012, a Rosary Service was held at 6:30 p.m., followed by a Vigil Service at 7:00 p.m. at the Spellman-Schmidt Funeral Home, 427 Adams Street, Wray, Colorado.
 
On Wednesday, September 5, 2012, 10:00 a.m., a Mass of Christian Burial was held at St. Andrews Catholic Church in Wray, Colorado.
 
Interment was in Grandview Cemetery in Wray, Colorado.