Former Democratic state Rep. Jeanne Labuda passed away on July 25, 2022 after battling ALS for the last 18 months.

Born Feb. 6, 1947 in Aqua Dulce, Texas, Labuda was one of five children of Lillian and Steve Labuda.

She grew up in Kingsville, Texas, south of Corpus Christi. After high school, she attended Texas A&I (later renamed Texas A&M), earning a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in political science.

Labuda, inspired by the call from President John Kennedy, enrolled in the Peace Corps and spent 2.5 years teaching in Liberia. She also traveled extensively during that time, with trips to Timbuktu, a trek through the southern Sahara Desert and a climb of Mt. Kilimanjaro.

Back in the U.S., Labuda enrolled in a master’s program in political science at the University of Texas in Austin. It’s there she met the love of her life, Michael Taber, who was running an automotive shop where she took her car for repairs.

Their first date was to an “experimental play” that Taber said wasn’t very good. “She was the only person I ever met who had spent time in Timbuktu,” as he had.

That began a 50-year love affair. They married in March 1977.

That same year, Taber earned his law degree from the University of Texas and they headed to Maine for a few years, and then to Colorado.

Sharing her husband’s interest, Labuda earned a law degree from the University of Colorado Boulder at the age of 42. She was hired by the Colorado Attorney General’s Office and also began serving her community, with stints as a Girl Scout leader, president of the Denver chapter of the American Association of University Women, and on the Denver Planning Board under Mayors Federico Peña and Wellington Webb.

In 2006, Labuda was elected to the first of four terms for House District 1, which covered parts of Arapahoe, Denver and Jefferson counties. After reapportionment in 2012, the district included southwest Denver and a small portion of eastern Jefferson County.

During her time in the General Assembly, Labuda served on the House Finance Committee, House State Veterans & Military Affairs, House Appropriations, House Local Government and on the House Agriculture, Livestock & Natural Resources committee.

She also served on various joint and interim committees.

Labuda’s legislative activity focused largely on juvenile criminal justice and family mental health issues.

In a 2014 profile of term-limited lawmakers, Labuda pointed to one of the first bills she sponsored, which addressed child custody issues for military personnel.

“To get a bill enacted that I know definitely helps people, I mean, I’ve had a few of those, but we pass a lot of bills down here that help people,” she said.

Termed-out Democrats discuss their legacies

Labuda said her experience in the legislature helped her grow as a person.

“I think I’m more grounded than I was because I’m more knowledgeable. Knowledge is power,” she said. “I can’t see myself getting entirely out of politics … I’m definitely going to stay involved somehow.”

She ran for Denver City Council in 2015 but lost to eventual winner and current Councilman Kevin Flynn.

Former state Rep. Claire Levy of Boulder said she and Labuda were office mates in their first terms.

“She was very passionate about our annual military commemoration day. She always talked about her husband’s big plans with his boat. I had the impression that he would take the boat on some pretty long sailing trips. It was clear that she loved him very much,” Levy said.

Taber told Colorado Politics that over the last year and a half of her life, he had a lot of time to reflect on who Jeanne really was “in ways you don’t when you’re busy living.”

“I came away in awe with the extent of her courage. It’s something you see in moments, it’s in the character that endures through the decisions they make,” he said.

Travis Berry of Politicalworks, who has been at the state Capitol for 30 years, spent time working on Labuda’s first campaign in 2006.

“She identified a skill in me – I was a former pizza delivery guy,” Berry said.

That skill was how to map out the district to identify the key people who would participate in caucus, saving a lot of effort. 

What Berry remembered best was the first time he went to her house. They went to the garage to collect literature for a district walking session, and next to those boxes of campaign literature, notably five life-sized cardboard cutouts of Labuda in what became her standard Capitol attire: a white blouse, red jacket and blue pants.

Without missing a beat, Labuda said they were “Port-A-Jeans” for campaign volunteers, who would do “honk and waves” in the district. She wasn’t even the slightest sheepish about it, Berry recalled.

“It was a brilliant political move,” he said.

Rep. Susan Lontine of Denver succeeded Labuda in the House District 1 seat and served as Labuda’s aide for two sessions.

“I got to know Jeanne when I was starting to get involved in politics,” Lontine said.

Jeanne got her down to the Capitol and helped her learn her way around, and through her, Lontine met former state Sen. Irene Aguilar, who Lontine worked for later and who gave Lontine her first campaign contribution. 

Labuda continued to enjoy the outdoors throughout her life, including climbing a half-dozen of the state’s 14ers. She also loved to read and travel.

Labuda is survived by her husband, her daughters Danica and Emily, brother Joseph and sister Therese. Her parents, son Luke, and two brothers are deceased.

A memorial service is scheduled for Cameron Methodist Church for Saturday, Oct. 22 at 11 a.m.