Pat Blair
from the Durango Herald
Pat Blair passed away on June 24, 2026, peacefully in her home surrounded by family and friends. She was 83.
Patricia (Pat) Ellen Roberts Blair was born in Denver, Colorado, on October 14, 1942, to parents Walter and Violet Loyd Roberts. In her growing years, she lived in Los Alamos, New Mexico, "the secret city." In 1965, she received her BS degree in biology from the University of New Mexico (UNM) in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and worked in research with the UNM School of Medicine. With the help of her father, Pat invented an advanced technique for micro-dissection of glomerular kidney tissue and an automatic multiple pipette.
She married Robert W. Blair Jr. on June 11, 1966, in Los Alamos, New Mexico. After working in research with the U.S. Navy Research Unit in Great Lakes, Illinois, she substitute taught grades 1–12, with an emphasis on math, science, art, and music, in Illinois and Colorado.
In 1968 and 1969, Rob and Pat had two children, Kurt and Katrina. In 1975, Pat was awarded Outstanding Young Woman of America for her community work in Durango, Colorado. In 1979, she received her MA in Human Nutrition from Goddard College in Plainfield, Vermont. For nine years, she worked as the general manager of Durango Natural Foods; eight years as the administrator of Durango Pain Rehabilitation Center at La Plata Community Hospital; and more than forty years as a nutrition consultant/teacher and general manager/accountant of Rocky Mountain Retreat, which was home to multiple nonprofit communities. Along with her family and friends, she also played a primary role in establishing the resource recovery/recycling program that was ultimately adopted by the City of Durango.
She cherished her first priorities—her husband, children, grandchildren, and extended family—as well as crisis intervention for financially vulnerable nonprofits, traveling, bicycling, reading, gardening and flowers, playing classical and ragtime piano, and performing Celtic music with the Kitchen Jam Band for eight years.
A Celebration of Life for Pat is being planned for September 19 at 2:00 p.m. at the Durango Rec Center.
Donations may be made to the nonprofit Rocky Mountain Retreat, DBA Turtle Lake Refuge, 848 E. 8th Avenue, Durango, CO 81301.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.