Colorado & Denver News

DENVER (AP) ― Three members of a prominent Denver family on the way to visit relatives for Christmas died in a car crash on an icy stretch of Interstate 80 in Wyoming on Saturday. Friends gathered for a vigil Sunday night at Denver's Cheeseman Park.

John Parr, 59, a political consultant who worked with governors, mayors as well as grassroots community groups, his wife, journalist Sandra Widener, 53, and daughter Chase, 19, were killed after their car was hit by a tractor-trailer six miles west of Rawlins, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said Sunday. The only one to survive the crash, 17-year-old Katy, was taken to a Casper hospital in critical condition.

In a written statement, Mayor John Hickenlooper and his wife Helen Thorpe said they cherished their memories of Parr, Widener and Chase.

"They made us better people. They made Denver a better city, and Colorado a better state. We struggle to comprehend this loss, and our hearts go out to Katy," they said.

Parr, the co-founder of Denver-based Civic Results, served as president of the National Civic League from 1985 to 1995 and was as a board member of the Denver Downtown Partnership. According to a biography posted on the company's Web site, Parr directed the field organization to help elect Dick Lamm governor of Colorado in 1974 and, in 1983, served as the transition director for Denver Mayor Federico Pena.

Widener wrote for The Denver Post and Parr's niece, Kathryn Pfaltzgraff McAllister of Newport News, Va., said she helped co-found the alternative newspaper Westword and later worked as a freelance writer.

Chase was a sophomore at Wesleyan University who had a gift for singing, performing in "Fiddler in the Roof" in her senior year at East High School in Denver, McAllister said. Katy is also a student at the school, where she plays soccer, she said.

McAllister said Parr and Widener were a team, united in their political views and intellectual pursuits. She said the historic bungalow where the family lived was always buzzing with plays and projects.

"They were people who lived life to the fullest," she said. "They got involved with their friends and neighbors and they knew what it took to make the world a better place. They thrived on helping other people."

The accident happened as the family was headed to Boise, Idaho to spend Christmas with Widener's parents and two sisters, McAllister said.

The highway patrol said there was blowing snow and icy conditions as Parr and his family headed westbound on I-80 in their 2007 Subaru station wagon.

First, their car slid and ended up sideways across the road, toward the median. Angela Seeley, 42, of Colorado Springs, Colo. swerved her sport utility vehicle to avoid the station wagon but clipped its back.

Seeley's SUV ran into the back of a snowplow driven by Johnny Frank Woolner of Rawlins, Wyo. A 2007 Chevy pickup driven by Robert Maxwell of Douglas, Wyo. avoided the station wagon but hit the SUV.

The station wagon, driven by Parr, was then hit by the tractor-trailer. It was driven by William R. Bowers of Bremerton, Wash.

The crash is still under investigation.



Gov. Bill Ritter issued the following statement regarding the deaths of John Parr, Sandy Widener and their daughter, Chase Parr. The Ritter family has been friends with the Parr family for nearly two decades. Most recently, John Parr served as a facilitator for Gov. Ritter's Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel.

"There is no way to describe the pain of this terrible, terrible tragedy," Ritter said. "This is such a devastating loss for the entire community on so many levels. John and Sandy made untold contributions – small, large and every size in between – and touched untold lives. They were loved by so many people that you can feel the tears ripple across Colorado today. We will be in mourning for a very long time."

"Chase and her sister Katy have been an amazing gift to their many friends. We will do everything we can to comfort Katy and help her through this. Let us all hold her deep in our hearts and our prayers."

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)