Since becoming Boulder’s district attorney in 2000, the woman known as Mary Keenan has been called a lot of things: Smart. Blunt. Aggressive. Dedicated.
Now add Lacy to the list.
Mary T. Lacy has become the legal name of the district attorney formerly known as Mary Keenan. Lacy, 54, on Friday legally changed her last name to that of her husband of four years, Jack Lacy, 65.
Why the change? Is it so Lacy, who gained notoriety as Keenan for being a tough sexual-assault prosecutor and for lambasting the University of Colorado for allegedly using sex and alcohol to entice football recruits, can leave her term-limited office in 2008 with relative anonymity?
No, Lacy said, citing the most simple and yet complex of reasons: She is in love.
“He is just wonderful,” said Lacy of her husband in an excited tone that some could interpret as gushing. “I did it to make him happy,” although he never requested it, she added.
After they met at an election fundraiser for her 2000 campaign, she said, Jack Lacy asked to meet her for a drink in April 2001.
“Honestly, I thought one of his kids was in trouble. When I realized it was a date, I said, ‘Oh my gosh!’ I was not looking,” she said, with emphasis. “I didn’t have any time for it.”
Divorced 14 years earlier, the woman born Mary Wiewel kept her married name of Keenan while raising her two children, she said.
After meeting, falling in love with and marrying Jack Lacy, she said, she called her children, now grown and moved away, and asked them what they thought of her changing her name.
“They adore Jack,” Lacy said. Besides, she said, “My mother has called me Lacy since we got married.”
She waited until the election was over, Lacy said, so voters would recognize the familiar name of Keenan.
Then, at Christmas, she filled out a change-of-name petition by hand, placed it in a television-sized box, wrapped it with Christmas-tree paper bound by a large bow and gave it to her husband.
“I was speechless,” Jack Lacy, who works as a commercial loan officer, said of the gift. “Very surprised.”
“Did I get choked up? Yes, I did – I’m a pretty emotional person.”
And then he continued, in a similar vein to his wife.
“We’re very much in love,” Jack Lacy said with enthusiasm. “She’s just a very classy lady and we pretty much do everything together. … It’s an amazing match.”
Staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com.
