Obituary of Patricia Ann Bloomgren

Patricia Ann Hamilton Bloomgren, 74, of Stillwater, Minnesota, passed away peacefully with her daughter Kara by her side on December 21, 2021. 

Pat was born in Farmington, New Mexico, on May 28, 1947, to Gene Cade Hamilton and Kathryn Lorene Hall. She grew up in Aztec, New Mexico, and graduated from Aztec High School in 1965. She was an honor graduate and an accomplished musician, notably in flute and piano.   She played the flute in school band and was in the All-State Band three years in a row.  She was also the Drum Majorette for three years.   Pat played in a piano quartet (2 pianos and 4 girls) and taught piano.  The quartet played Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony for several recitals in the Aztec area.

Pat received a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, in 1969.  She went on to get a Master of Science degree in Geology from Colorado State University in Fort Collins in 1971.  She then pursued further graduate studies in geology at the University of Minnesota. From her first glimpse from an airplane window, Pat fell in love with the lakes and trees of Minnesota.  It was here that Pat built her career and developed a second family amidst the people in the geology and environmental community.

Pat was a pioneer in promoting women in the workplace and an early champion of environmental causes, regularly giving of her time and energy to causes in which she believed.  As she built her career, she not only focused on moving herself ahead but served as a mentor and coach to help others, particularly women, achieve their goals.  Pat was a dedicated public servant. Her coworkers described her as having, “a keen knowledge and sharp sense of humor; she truly loved her work, and she did it well.  She was a joy to work with.”  Pat worked for more than 30 years for the State of Minnesota until her retirement in 2008.  She started as a Hydrologist at the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), but eventually her career took her into various senior leadership roles for the DNR, Board of Water and Soil Resources, Pollution Control Agency, and Department of Health.  Following are a few highlights from her long career.

At the DNR Pat was a key person in the Minnesota Flood Plain Management Program with responsibilities in the areas of program management, rule-making and promotion of the program.  She had to gain local governments’ cooperation and get them to adopt floodplain rules and regulations through ordinances. Pat was also a key member of the National Association of State Floodplain Managers and worked to promote and advocate a national approach to reducing the impacts of flooding in the US. She had a great ability to explain and present technical aspects of the disciplines in which she worked in a very clear and understandable way. She was an excellent communicator and was much respected for her knowledge, understanding, and approach to solving problems.

At the Department of Health, after the 1997 flood in the Red River Valley, Pat spent months in the area as the representative liaising between state health department and local governments as they struggled to recover.  Her regulatory experience and the knowledge base she gained from each agency of state government where she had worked positioned her to provide guidance regarding ground water, well management, home and business contamination and remediation, waste collection and disposal. After the SARS epidemic of 2003, Pat lent her expertise to a multiple state agency planning effort for a pandemic she hoped would never happen.  

During her life, Pat’s sense of adventure led her to take on various jobs.  During her college years, she worked as a mill worker in a textile mill in Massachusetts, changing the spools on the machines that made colored rope.  Another summer she was the cook for a group of geology students doing fieldwork in Colorado.  She also worked a few weeks on a weed pulling agriculture project.  It’s really true that she didn’t mind getting her hands dirty.  Mid-career she also recharged by heading to Alaska, where she spent time interviewing patrons of various national parks, notably Denali, about what they liked and didn't like about the campgrounds.

Pat was a good friend to many.  She maintained almost 70-year relationships with the Krib Kids, a set of children she met in elementary school in Aztec, New Mexico. In her retirement she loved having coffee with the Smart Ladies group every Wednesday.  This group discussed current events, challenged each other intellectually and supported each other emotionally.   She also held dear for decades many friends from her college and career days in the geology and environmental community, staying in touch until her final passing. 

Outside of her work life, Pat had time for a few other passions.  She was an avid gardener, each year expanding the size of her garden and the variety of flowers or fruits in it. There was also no pet or animal that Pat didn’t love.  She donated to many animal causes and had at least a couple pets most of her life.  These passions she shared with her grandchildren Cruz and Linnea.  She loved when they’d help her weed the garden or pick strawberries.  Nothing was more fun than rolling around the floor with those two kids and the kitties.  Time with the grandchildren was time well spent in retirement.  She’d take them to the beach or shopping, and loved going to her daughter Kara’s place on the lake for hours of fishing with the kids.

Pat loved travel, whether in the USA or abroad. Outside of her home base in Minnesota, her favorite spot in the USA was her college town of Durango, Colorado. She always made a point to visit there whenever she went to Aztec to see her family.  Pat was fortunate to have a circle of travel-loving friends and family who would join her as she roamed the globe.  Her son Brian went on road trips with her several times down to Aztec to see family.  They liked driving the whole distance from Minnesota to New Mexico in one long 20+ hour day.   She always liked to take the road less traveled or the adventure not planned.  On car trips she often abruptly turned to see where a road would lead; her sense of adventure never ending.  While she often wandered closer to home, visiting places in outstate Minnesota or heading to the western or southwestern states, she also liked to head farther afield to places like Argentina, China, Czech Republic, Great Britain, Ireland, Panama, Russia, or Scotland.  On one such trip she brought Kara along, and they got to compare their driving abilities as they both tried to drive a stick shift, maneuver through round-abouts (a challenge when driving on the left-side of the road), and continually weave around the native goats. 

Pat was preceded in death by her parents, Gene and Kathryn Hamilton.   She is survived by her children Kara (Randy) Topper and Brian Bloomgren, grandchildren Cruz and Linnea Topper, sister Janice Baxter, and nephews Michael Baxter and Kevin Baxter (Kim Tran).

The family would like to express their love and gratitude to Oak Park Senior Living and St. Croix Hospice for caring for Pat during the last few years.  Staff help and support was outstanding and meant so much to us.  We also want to acknowledge the tireless assistance of Cousin Diane who supported and guided Pat through her final, difficult years.

A Celebration of Life memorial service will be held at 2:00 PM, visitation 1:00 PM with a refreshments to follow, Thursday, May 12, 2022 at the Cremation Society of Minnesota, 1979 Old Hudson Rd, St Paul, MN 55119.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Environment Minnesota at https://environmentminnesota.org/ or Heifer International at https://www.heifer.org/ or Planned Parenthood of North Central States at https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-north-central-states.

Arrangements by Cremation Society of Minnesota.