Pam Wagner could be “headstrong” when it came to lobbying, but she had a “soft heart” for animals on the family farm near Byers, said her brother Steve Held of Miller Place, N.Y.
Wagner, who had fought a rare form of cancer for five years, died at her home near Byers on Aug. 2, the day after her 56th birthday.
A memorial will be held at 10 a.m. today at the Division of Wildlife, Hunter Educational Building, 6060 Broadway.
She had worked as a legislative liaison for the division, which is part of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, for several years.
“She was doggedly determined” as a lobbyist, said Harris Sherman, director of the Department of Natural Resources. “When someone needed to find her, they didn’t need a cellphone — she was probably right behind them.
“She was honest and straightforward, and her accomplishments were enormous,” said Sherman, who said she helped shepherd several measures through the legislature that benefited the wildlife division.
“She was liked and respected and did a great job” for the wildlife department, said her boss, Tom Remington, who lives in Fort Collins. “If she needed you, she’d sit outside your office. It didn’t matter what time it was. She could out-wait you.”
Wagner fought cancer for five years “but never let her pain be anyone else’s pain,” Held said. “And she didn’t let it impact her job.”
In fact, she was working until days before she died.
She often stayed at the Capitol late at night to finish her work before driving home.
Pam Held was born in New York. She started riding horses when she was a little girl, working as a groom and a trainer to save money to go to a horse camp, her brother said.
She graduated from the University of New Hampshire in equine husbandry and came to Colorado to breed horses.
She worked on a dairy farm in Brighton but had an allergy, so she got a lobbying internship with the Mountain Empire Dairyman’s Association.
In addition to her job, her passion was breeding harness horses.
She didn’t compete in harness racing but bred and sold the horses.
She went on to do lobbying for colleges and then to the Division of Wildlife, working a total of 30 years for the state, Sherman said.
She married Gary Wagner on Aug. 2, 1982, and they had a farm near Byers.
In addition to her husband and brother, she is survived by another brother, Brian Held of Glasgow, Ky., and a sister, Dena Weatherman of Tampa, Fla.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
