Widener, 'Westword' Co-founder, Killed in Crash

By: A Denver couple and their 19-year-old daughter were killed after being hit by a tractor-trailer on an icy stretch of I-80, the Wyoming Highway Patrol said Sunday.

John David Parr, 59, his wife Sandra Widener, 53, and daughter Chase, 19, died in the chain reaction crash six miles west of Rawlins on Saturday, the patrol said. Their 17-year-old daughter Katy was taken to a Casper hospital in critical condition.

Parr was a Democratic political consultant and had served in significant positions within city and state government and was the co-founder and principle of Civic Results. According to its Web site, Civic Results was formed to fill a "need for an organization that could provide support to government entities, businesses, nonprofits and community groups as they worked to find solutions to increasingly complex and interdependent problems."

Parr also served as president of the National Civic League from 1985 to 1995 and was as a board member of the Denver Downtown Partnership. According to a biography posted on the company's Web site, Parr directed the field organization to help elect Dick Lamm governor of Colorado in 1974 and, in 1983, served as the transition director for Denver Mayor Federico Pena.

Widener was a co-founder of The Westword, an alternative weekly newspaper, and was a former reporter for the Denver Post's Sunday magazine, Empire.

Both Chase and Katy attended East High School. Chase graduated recently and was a sophomore at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. Katy is currently a senior at East.

The family was on its way to Boise, Idaho, for an annual Christmas gathering with Widener's parents and sister.

Mayor John Hickenlooper and his wife, Helen Thorpe issued the following statement upon learning the news:

"We cherish our memories of John and Sandy and their daughter Chase. They made us better people. They made Denver a better city, and Colorado a better state. We struggle to comprehend this loss, and our hearts go out to Katy."

Governor Bill Ritter issued a statement on Sunday as well. Ritter says his family has been friends with the Parr family for nearly two decades and recently, John Parr had served as a facilitator for Ritter's Blue Ribbon Transportation Panel.

"There is no way to describe the pain of this terrible, terrible tragedy," Gov. Ritter stated. "This is such a devastating loss for the entire community on so many levels. John and Sandy made untold contributions ? small, large and every size in between ? and touched untold lives. They were loved by so many people that you can feel the tears ripple across Colorado today. We will be in mourning for a very long time."

"Chase and her sister Katy have been an amazing gift to their many friends," sated Ritter. "We will do everything we can to comfort Katy and help her through this. Let us all hold her deep in our hearts and our prayers."

The patrol said the accident happened in blowing snow with icy conditions as Parr and his family headed westbound on I-80 in their 2007 Subaru station wagon.

First, their car slid and ended up sideways across the road, toward the median. Angela Seeley, 42, of Colorado Springs, Colo. swerved her sport utility vehicle to avoid the station wagon but clipped its back.

Seeley's SUV ran into the back of a snowplow driven by Johnny Frank Woolner of Rawlins, Wyo. A 2007 Chevy pickup driven by Robert Maxwell of Douglas, Wyo. avoided the station wagon but hit the SUV.

The station wagon, driven by Parr, was then hit by the tractor-trailer. It was driven by William R. Bowers of Bremerton, Wash.

The crash is still under investigation.