HOOPER — The Hooper Town Board is proud to announce Pat Stoops of Hooper as a recipient of the Hooper Outstanding Community Member Award. 

The award was presented to Pat at the Town Hall by Mayor Pro Tem Jim Hazard on April 18.

Pat moved to Hooper in 1989 and worked at the Hooper scales when it was located on the west side of Highway 17. Pat also spent six years employed at the Hooper post office and worked as a PMR and as Post Master.

In 1995 My Sister’s Place was established and Pat and her sister JoDene owned the store until they sold it in 2005.

The store had a fire in late October of 2003.  The sisters spent many hours working hard to clean the ash and soot after the fire and then rebuild. Once again My Sister’s Place was up and running mid-April of 2004. Pat did everything from cooking in the restaurant, to being a cashier in the store, weighing trucks and even plowing the parking lot after a snow storm. She was known to stay late to weigh trucks and even go back to weigh returning trucks after hours.

Pat was instrumental in helping get city sales tax for Hooper, a much needed revenue for the town. She served on the town board as a trustee in 1996, 1998, 2008 and 2012 for a total of 10 years. Pat served on the committee for the Hooper Centennial Celebration and was responsible for starting the first clean-up project in Hooper. Pat donated and helped plant a tree in memory of her late husband Dick Stoops, to the town park. She participated in the flea market fund raiser in September of 2015 to help raise money for park improvements.

Pat has selflessly paid to fill propane tanks for local families to keep them warm in the winter and paid electric bills to keep the lights on. Earlier this year she flew with an elderly woman that lived in Hooper that was being transferred from the hospital in Alamosa to Penrose Hospital in Pueblo. She is not at all a fan of flying so it took a lot of courage and caring for her to fly. The Town of Hooper is proud to have Pat Stoops as a member of its community.

Caption: Hooper Mayor Pro Tem Jim Hazard, right, presents the Hooper Outstanding Community Member Award to Pat Stoops. Courtesy photo