Friends and colleagues remember Colorado's first congresswoman Pat Schroeder as iconic feminist

Former Congresswoman Pat Schroeder is being remembered as a trailblazer. The 82-year-old died in Florida Monday after her family says she suffered a stroke.

President Biden was among those mourning her loss, saying Schroeder inspired a generation of public servants.

She was the first woman elected to Congress from Colorado, serving for 24 years from 1973 to 1996.

Kip Cheroutes, her district director, described her as a force of nature. 

"When you staff for Pat Schroeder, you let Pat Schroeder be Pat Schroeder," he said. 

For nearly 20 years, Cheroutes was staff and friend to the former Congresswoman. He says men especially underestimated her. 

"She just blow them out of the room with her intelligence and wit. That would be the fun part to watch her in action," Cheroutes said. 

 A Harvard-educated attorney, Schroeder was also a pilot as Cheroutes says she was always thinking ahead.

"She always saw above the horizon on policy stuff, women's policy stuff," he said. 

She was instrumental in securing family and medical leave, pregnancy workplace protection and spousal pensions. She also fought for abortion rights, women in the military and medical research involving women.

Cheroutes says Schroeder was pro-environment as well and fought to make Rocky Mountain Arsenal a wildlife refuge.

"A regret she had, that she voiced one time, is (she) couldn't do enough," he said.

In 1987, Schroeder became one the first women to even consider a presidential run. 

Cheroutes says she told a reporter of her plans before she told the staff. 

"Very unguarded, good and bad from a staff point of view, what is she up to now?" he asked. 

In an interview with CBS News Colorado's Shaun Boyd two years ago, she recalled people's reaction to the news that she might run.

"My favorite question was, 'why are you running as a woman?'" she asked. 

The reaction to her decision not to run, she lamented, made even bigger news. She cried at her press conference. 

"I said Kleenex should be my corporate sponsor," she expressed.

Cheroutes says she kept a file in her office after that, titled "men who cry." 

He says she decided against a run primarily because of all the fundraising involved. She didn't want to be beholden to donors he says.

"She just said, 'no I just can't do that and be who I am,'" Cheroutes said. 

She left office two years after Republicans took control of the House and endorsed then-candidate, Dianna DeGette for her seat.

"We had a press conference when she endorsed me," DeGette recalled. "And somebody said 'Dianna those are big shoes to fill' and Pat said 'well let's just see about that' and she took off her shoe and said put it on. Luckily, it fit and I felt like Cinderella."   

DeGette says Schroeder was a "pioneer for women's rights."

Both she and Schroeder were young mothers when elected and DeGette says Schroeder became her mentor, sending her emails out of the blue, along with a Valentine's card just last month.

"She was always there for me. She was there for minute things like how do you balance the after-school schedule and the congressional schedule. She was also there for things like how do you get a good committee assignment," DeGette said. 

She says Schroeder used to joke her biggest triumph was getting a women's restroom installed in the House. 

"She disarmed everybody who didn't give her credit with her sharp wit. If you underestimated Pat Schroeder, it was at your own risk," DeGette said. 

Schroeder was not only the first congresswoman from Colorado but the first woman appointed to the Armed Services Committee. She opposed the Vietnam War. 

DeGette recalled how the Republican chair of the committee made her share a seat with the first African American on the committee. 

"They did it with dignity and pride and they never let that chairman or anybody else get the better of them," DeGette said.  

She says all politicians can learn from Schroeder's way of approaching challenges with dignity and wit. 

"Because having a good sense of humor will get you a long way even while you're fighting to the core for the values that you believe in. I think that's the message Pat Schroeder brings to politicians of any stripe and I think it's sorely lacking in politics today," she said.