Dennis Roe, 'unsung hero' for social justice

By Rebecca Jones, Special to the Rocky

Published June 23, 2008 at 10:10 p.m.

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Dennis Roe "ate, drank, slept" politics, unions and basketball.

Dennis "Dee" Roe, a longtime activist for social justice causes in Colorado, died June 10 after a heart attack. He was 66.

"As an unsung hero of the progressive movement, Dee never sought public recognition and humbly made the phone calls, stuffed the envelopes and attended countless community meetings to fight for social justice and health care for all," said Bill Vandenberg, a founder of the Colorado Progressive Coalition, where Mr. Roe was a longtime volunteer and staffer.

"Large in stature and guided by his deep faith, Dee brought to CPC a passionate love of his family, jokes and puns, anything with sugar in it, basketball, and racial and economic justice for all," Vandenberg said.

Mr. Roe, born July 1, 1941, outside Platteville to Clyde and Ruth Roe, grew up in Johnstown and played on the Johnstown High School state champion basketball team in 1957. After high school, he played semi-pro basketball in Colorado and Wyoming in the old Industrial League.

At 21, he severely injured a knee playing basketball. Surgery was successful, but post-operative complications eventually cost him his leg. Failure to get proper rehabilitative services for his leg resulted in great pain for Mr. Roe for much of his life, said his wife, Jeanie, whom he married in 1966.

After his injury, Mr. Roe was an accountant for a time but hated being sedentary, his wife said. Instead, he returned to physical labor, working as a coal miner in Wyoming and as a pressman for a number of newspapers in Colorado. He also became a union organizer.

"He was extremely union-oriented," his wife said. "He didn't like me even going into stores that weren't union."

Mr. Roe attended college off and on throughout his life and was just a few credit hours shy of getting a bachelor's degree in political science.

"He was very well-read and very political," Jeanie Roe said. "I used to say that he ate, drank and slept politics, unions and basketball."

Twelve years ago, he was among the founding volunteers at the Colorado Progressive Coalition and eventually took a part-time job there as a community organizer, specializing in health care issues.

"He traveled around the state to senior centers and community centers to talk to people struggling to afford prescription drugs," Vandenberg said.

Mr. Roe's efforts eventually paid off. Earlier this year, Gov. Bill Ritter signed an executive order expanding access to affordable prescription drugs.

"You could always rely on Dee to do whatever needed to be done," said U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, Democratic congresswoman representing Denver.

"A lot of progressives got very discouraged during the dark years of the Gingrich-Bush era, but he never did. He always kept his optimism, kept on fighting for justice and for health care for all people. He was an extraordinary person."

"Dee was a great believer in the Davids of this world fighting against the Goliaths," said Vandenberg. "He brought passion and dignity and humanity to fights that could easily become all about politics. He never forgot the real people."

His one great weakness was his sweet tooth. "He was easy to shop for because all you had to do was buy chocolate for him," his wife said. "Any kind of sweets he loved, but especially chocolate. And pastries."

He was also fond of children, and at family gatherings usually preferred to sit at the children's table with his grandkids rather than at the table for adults.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Roe is survived by a daughter, Anita Kroh, of Colorado Springs; three sons, Darren Roe, of Greeley, Denny Roe, of Denver, and Vince Roe, of Colorado Springs; a sister, Betty Ann Gray, of Loveland; 14 grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and two brothers.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Colorado Progressive Coalition, 1600 Downing St., Suite 210, Denver, CO 80218.

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