Patrick McGuire

Pat and I went to school together at Holy Rosary School for 8 grades. He was one of my best grade school friends and around 4th grade, we would play softball and other sports at my parent's house across from the Fair grounds, in our big yard. When High School rolled around, I went to Madison to the Seminary and Pat stayed home going to Darlington High. We would talk occasionally over the summer. Pat was extremely proud to be one of the first runners on the Darlington Cross Country team. With all the great runners, Darlington has produced over the years, Pat is among them. A true pioneer in the sport. After High School, I went to UW-Platteville, majoring in Social Studies Education, and He went to UW-LaCrosse, majoring in Social Work. During those years, I lost touch with him. I was not surprised when one of the memories shared said that he ran Cross Country for the Eagles. By coincidence, he kept running and I coached Cross Country and T rack for thirty years. His kind heart was always there and I am proud of his work in helping and counseling people. I ended up in Northeast Iowa where I was a teacher, coach and k-12 school counselor. I never forgot Pat and one of my greatest regrets is not coming back for his parents or his brother's funerals. I would have loved to talk to him. My condolences go out to his family and friends. Peco, you were God's shepherd and now you are by the still waters of peace, talking to the Good Shepherd. Rest in peace, my friend.

I had just moved into a new place and was a little lonely. Patrick and Sara would stop by and bring me some treats. One of my favorites was his air fried chicken. He had a heart of gold and was a real blessing to my life. I will miss him a lot. - Charles Adams

Pat and I met in the mid-70's when running the streets in Fort Dodge, IA, shortly after Pat started his counseling job at Rabiner's Boys Ranch. Pat was as dedicated to working with the kids as he was to his running. We quickly became close and best friends. We trained together every week. Our training included trying some of the first Trotter Treadmills. We burned out many a tread, but Mr Trotter kept up supplied as long as we gave him feedback. Pat got me trained to run faster by some horrendous track workouts that he experienced as a XC runner at LaCrosse. I like to think that I encouraged Pat to take a real interest in running marathons. Pat was there shouting out splits or running with me for all of my PRs for 1 and 2 miles and 5 and 10Ks on the Dodger Stadium Track or on the road for my 10K, and 10, 13.1 and 26.2 mile PRs. I rarely saw Pat win a race since I was in back of him, but he won many here in Iowa and when we ran together in Co. I always was so glad that he kept in touch when he moved to Des Moines, then Colorado. We ran roads and trails around his Idaho Springs and later Pat and Sara's Steamboat Springs homes. Pat and I and other distance runners put on Wednesday all-comers meets at the Stadium and Saturday distance runs at Loomis Park. Many kids (old and young) came for the All-Comers Meets. Pat was great with the kids. We also got the Masters Mile started. That was run during the halftime of the Dodger Relays and attracted older runners from central Iowa. We also started the Frontier Days Marathon and 10K, which was run for a few years. Pat and I drove to and ran several marathons "together." I am recalling St Louis 2nd Olympiad in about 1979 in snow, sleet, cold, and wind (Pat won or came close - I got under 3), Okoboji, Iowa (Pat camped out at old Boy Scout Camp and won), Paavo Nurmi (where we ran with local high school runner Anita Ayers set Paavo's teenage women record of 2:54 which still stands), 1977 Storm Lake (where Pat and Jock Mulholland tied for Marathon and I and Steve Hotz came in 1 and 2 for the 11+ mile run around the lake), Summit County (Pat won it! I was back in Dillon a couple summers ago visiting the Amphitheater where I watched Pat get the award). And many other races and memories! For example Georgetown and LaCrosse where I got to meet Pat's very fast college teammates. And Leadville, where I and my wife and daughters saw Pat enter his first burro race (and get run over at the start by his burro) and finish almost dead last with another 4 minute miler and his burro. So many great memories. Sara and Pat have always been so open to including me in some part of their summers, whether Steamboat, camping in Buena Vista, or recently in Crestone. Pat really enjoyed fishing and building buildings. Together Pat and Sara really enjoyed camping cooking and hiking in the great outdoors of CO. Pat and I played a couple of rounds of golf in summer 2024, and were looking forward to more of that this summer, since he and Sara had completed building their home in Crestone, but. I have no doubt that I would not have become the runner that I became (which led to other outdoor activities: namely mountain climbing, if Pat McGuire had not come into and stayed in my life. Blessings to Sara for being right there for Pat for, wow, 40+ years! I used to yell folks that Pat's easy run days were my hard days (eg our sub 60 10-mile Sunday runs were a breeze for Pat and harder for me). Well, Pat has easy days now. These days are hard for me, but so many wonderful memories!

My deepest sympathies to the family on the profound loss of Pat. May his memories be a blessing.

I only knew Patrick for about 3 years. He was always kind with a quick smile. I enjoyed having him in my Sunday class and he often had great insights on biblical topics. It was an honor to help build his and Sarah's house. I already miss you 🙂