'A quiet giant' and mentor to all: Colorado remembers Sen. Gloria Tanner

One cannot draw a line from former Sen. Gloria Tanner's northeast Denver home without hitting virtually every major Black elected official in northeast Denver, and many others, in the last 50 years.

Tanner opened that public policy door for so many, Colorado's politicians said as they celebrated the legacy of the first African-American woman to serve in the Colorado Senate.

Sen. Janet Buckner, D-Aurora, said it was Tanner who showed up at her house after Buckner's husband, John, passed away in 2015 and encouraged her to run for the vacancy.

Sen. Buckner said she resisted at first, telling Tanner that she was grieving and couldn't think about such things.

But Tanner persisted, Buckner said.

"You need to continue his legacy and what he started," Buckner recalled Tanner saying. "I could hear her words in my head as I made that decision."

Tanner told her she could make a difference by continuing John Buckner's passion for education, Buckner recalled, adding Tanner also told her, "Representation matters, and how we have to have people at the Capitol who listen to the people in their communities."

"When Gloria Tanner comes to your house, you listen," Buckner said.

Sen. James Coleman, D-Denver, who represents Tanner's former Senate district, grew up just a few blocks away from Tanner and has known her almost his entire life. He told Colorado Politics that Tanner encouraged him to run for the Senate.

"I wouldn't be here without her," Coleman said. "I speak of her weekly ... I have big shoes to fill."

Coleman said he worked with Tanner on policy even this year over a bill on senior property tax exemptions.

"I honor her in that," he said.

Coleman said she was like a mother who dispensed great advice and had a great sense of humor.

"You didn't have to know her for years to receive advice or wisdom," Coleman added.

Tanner died of natural causes at her Denver home Monday at the age of 86.

Born Gloria Travis in Atlanta, Georgia on July 16, 1935 to Blanche Arnold Travis and Marcellus Travis and one of five sisters, Tanner attended the Gray Street School, one of the first exclusively devoted to African-American students, and graduated from David T. Howard High School. The exclusively African-American high school counts as alumni Martin Luther King, Jr., Vernon Jordan and Mayor Maynard Jackson. Tanner grew up in the same neighborhood where King preached. 

Tanner graduated magna cum laude from Metro State College in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in political science, and earned a master's degree in urban affairs from the University of Denver in 1976.

According to The History Makers, she worked for the U.S. Department of the interior before going to college, and, from 1972 to 1976, served as a reporter and feature writer for the Denver Weekly News, a leading African-American newspaper.

Tanner began her Colorado political career as an executive assistant to Lt. Gov. George Brown, the first African-American in Colorado to hold that position. She went on to work for Sen. Regis Groff of Denver as his communications director, and then finally ran for the House in 1985, representing northeast Denver. 

Gloria Tanner continues to nurture young leaders

When Groff resigned from the Senate in 1994, Tanner ran for his seat and won the vacancy election. She served in the state Senate until 2001.

In a 2012 profile in The Colorado Statesman, Tanner counted among her legislative successes measures to establish parental rights for adoptive parents, health benefit programs to cover screening for prostate cancer, and the creation of Colorado's Safe Haven law, which allows mothers to drop off newborns at fire stations and other emergency locations with no questions asked.

"I think we’ve saved a lot of lives with those bills," she told The Colorado Statesman, which noted in the profile piece that she allowed "herself a faint smile of satisfaction for the marks she’s left on the state."

She also obtained, through a state budget bill, $250,000 to start restoration work for the Dearfield community, a historical Black-only town in Weld County. 

Lawmakers get a firsthand look at Dearfield, Colorado's historic Black farm colony (PHOTOS)

Gloria Travis married Theodore Tanner in 1955. The couple had two daughters, Tanvis Renee and Tracey Lynne, and a son, Terrance Ralph. Theodore Tanner preceded her in death.

Tanner's sphere of influence touched every major Black elected official in Denver, as evidenced by those who attended "One Glorious Occasion," a tribute to Tanner held in 2000.

Former Mayor Wellington Webb told The Denver Post that "she is one of the most easygoing spirits ... one who is at ease around everyone and everyone is at ease around her. But make no mistake: her record speaks loudly." 

"Gloria is the best example of someone who works relentlessly to mold the character of our community," said then-Denver City Councilwoman Allegra "Happy" Haynes, whose mother, noted early childhood advocate Anna Jo, managed Tanner's election bids, the Post reported.

She was a quiet giant and incredibly transformative, former Senate President Peter Groff told Colorado Politics.

"You couldn't do anything in northeast Denver, or Colorado politics, without touching base with her first," he said.

"There's no way I could have gotten into the House and then the Senate without her guidance and support," Groff said, adding people would gather at her home and she would sit quietly while everyone else bragged about what they had done or plan to do, and then at the end she would weigh in.

"What she said was the direction everyone went," he said. 

Groff said Tanner opened doors for many, whether it was someone who sought public office or just wanted to make their communities better.

"Her biggest influence was showing how to lead and be humble," Groff said. "You have to have some arrogance to run for office, and some of us don't know how to rein that in, but if you watched her, she led with an unbelievable amount of humility, and her job was to leave state better than she found it."

She was very protective of her community, but also felt strongly about personal responsibility, according to Senate seat-mate and former Senate Minority Leader Mike Feeley.

Feeley said she would tell people: "Your helping hand is on the end of your own arm."

"I always found Gloria personally shy, but when she argued her case or on behalf of others, she wasn't shy at all," Feeley said. "She was a good friend, sitting next to each other and kibitzing. I lost a dear friend."

Tanner co-founded Colorado Black Women for Political Action. After stepping down in 2001, she became executive director of the National Organization of Black Elected Legislators-Women, known as NOBEL Women, which trains African-American women to run for office. She also founded the Senator Gloria Tanner Leadership and Training Institute for Future Black Women Leaders of Colorado. Tanner was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.

U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., who served with Tanner in the Colorado House, described Tanner as a mentor.

She and Tanner would ride together every year in the Juneteenth parade in an convertible, she told Colorado Politics on Wednesday.

"She was the queen of Five Points," DeGette said. "We would ride along in a big convertible. She waved to everyone and everyone knew her."

DeGette said everyone would shout out "senator" – and not notice Tanner was sitting next to a congresswoman.

"Like I was just staff," DeGette fondly recalled. 

In a statement to Colorado Politics, Senate President Steve Fenberg, D-Boulder, saluted Tanner as "a trailblazer who paved the way for so many."

"Our state and our country are better off because of her leadership. From passing landmark legislation to support Colorado women and families, to fighting to include more women of color – especially Black women color – in the state legislature, Senator Tanner was a champion for progress and for her community. Our thoughts are with Senator Tanner’s family today, but we know her legacy will continue to live on, and we are grateful to continue following in her footsteps.”

Gov. Jared Polis and Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, in a joint statement Tuesday, also mourned Tanner's passing.

"Beyond her storied career spanning 17 years at the Capitol — fighting to pass landmark legislation to improve the lives of women and families — former Senator Tanner’s undying love for her community is manifest in her mission to shape emerging leaders," they said. "On the day that Gloria Tanner leaves our physical world behind, she also leaves doors of opportunity open for the next generation to make a profound difference, to be a part of the change.” 

Rep. Leslie Herod, D-Denver, called Tanner a "trailblazer whose determination and commitment to Colorado improved the lives of all people in our state." Tanner's "tireless devotion to serving our community uplifted the lives of so many Coloradans and families," Herod added, noting that Tanner was a mentor to all.

"She fostered an entire generation of leaders who will continue her legacy and make their mark on our state and nation – just as she would have wished. Today, we celebrate her life and legacy as she ascends to join our ancestors,” she said.

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Morgan Carroll echoed the sentiment. 

 “We are mourning the passing of community leader, trailblazer, and former state Senator Gloria Tanner, an admirable leader and cornerstone of Colorado history," Carroll said. "She dedicated her life to public service and uplifting the Black community and our entire state inside and outside the state Capitol. We are grateful for her service, and to have known her strong spirit.”