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When John Denver died in a plane crash in October 1997, the world lost not just a popular singer, but a songwriter whose work touched the hearts of millions.

Among the 300 or so songs that he recorded, some 200 he wrote. He had 33 gold records, and was uncommonly successful in crossing genre lines, from country to adult contemporary to the Billboard Hot 100. .

Both Colorado and West Virginia have adopted John Denver songs as official state songs.

In 1994, John Denver published his autobiography, called Take Me Home. And that’s when I met him.

So here now, from 1994, John Denver.

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In 1972, Colorado was a very conservative state that today we would call a “red” state. But in ’72, voters elected their first ever female member of Congress, the young Democrat Pat Schroeder.

She won re-election in each of the next 11 elections, eventually serving 24 years in the US House of Representatives, becoming one of its most influential members.

She even considered joining the 1988 race for president, but ultimately decided against it. And the way she exited the race became a point of controversy in and of itself.

I met her in 1998 when she wrote a memoir which she called 24 Years of Housework and the Place is Still a Mess.

So here now, from 1998, Pat Schroeder.

Pat Schroeder died this past March, she was 82.

Now I've Heard Everything

Echoes of a Legend: John Denver’s Autobiography

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Pat Schroeder

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