The Life & Times of Pat Hurley

Walter Patrick Hurley Class of 1900 was born on March 27, 1877, in Fall River, Massachusetts. When in 1880 at the age of 3 his family moved to St. Elmo Colorado the same year the gold and silver mining town was founded, it lies in the heart of the Sawatch Range, 20 miles southwest of Buena Vista, Colorado.

He would remain there until he finished all the schooling the little town of St. Elmo had to offer. Then his parents shipped off to the Gilpin School at 29th and Stout Streets in the Five Points neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, where he finished his studies, played football, and received lessons in violin and piano. After graduating high school in 1895 his parents again shipped off, this time to Fort Collins to attend our own dear old Colorado Agricultural College.

It should be told; Pat Hurley was not best Mechanical Engineering student ever to attend C.A.C. Like many young men new to college, he partook of all the benefits and caused much anxiety among the facility during his early college days. He loved playing the Jester, pranking his fellow students and facility, how he ever escaped receiving his eighth demerit (which would mean expulsion form the college) his Freshman year is a miracle. He was so bold that the very next day after receiving his seventh demerit, he was accused of riding a pony into “Trig” class! but somehow, he was miraculously acquitted of the offense.

In 1896 Pat cajoled a number of his fellow classmates who also had a propensity for pranks and practical jokes to organize as a secret society, they would call it the "Mystic Circle.” What Pat did not realize is just how much influence his new brothers would have on him. The Mysticmen were not only socially successful they were academically successful. They sought out knowledge, engaged others and were interested in the world outside the college, they all were to become a real who’s who on campus.

Pat himself would go on to accomplishing a great deal in his time campus. He became the Chief Trumpeter for the Battalion in his Junior year, First Lieutenant and Battalion Adjutant in his Senior year. He played quarterback on the football team. A member of Philo-Aesthesian Literary Society served on the program committee and became President of the Society his Senior year. Leader of the college Orchestra, Glee club Secretary and Treasurer. If that was not enough, he was the editor of the Athletic and Local columns for the Collegian Newspaper.

When Pat graduated in 1900 there were 4,000 residents in Fort Collins, 364 students enrolled at C.A.C. and there were only 34 graduates in his class. After graduation he went to work at the State Capitol in Denver. In 1902 he moved back to Fort Collins to marry is college sweetheart Ada Livernash and become a partner in her fathers’ drug store. the Owl Drug Store in downtown Fort Collins.

Soon after returning to Fort Collins Pat became an active member of the C.A.C. Alumni Association. Because of his sharp wit and comedic humor, he was often tasked to serve as Toast Master for many of the alumni events over the years. His Owl Drug Store was also a big supporter campus events with prizes and it soon became the college clothier of the time.

In 1905 when the men of the Mystic Circle decided to bring an end to their “secret” actives and organize as a local fraternity the ”Tree Apes.” They called upon Pat Hurley, their founder, to become their Alumni Advisor. Pat would remain faithful to college and the principles he leaned from his brothers.

He understood that what started in jest became his savior. By surrounded himself with men smarter and far cleverer than himself, he grew into a better man. Men who are smarter than you make you up your game. Smart people make you smarter. They make you better. They spark interest and introduce you to new concepts, ideas, culture, and people.

This was something he was determined to instill into the men of this new Fraternity, encouraging the men to recruit their fellow campus leaders and seek out like-minded men who desired to become leaders. He knew men with a common purpose will work together and help one another grow. He strove to develop educated gentlemen of character who promoted human dignity, positive relationships, and moral character of the highest ideals.

In 1915 after more than a decade of loyalty, the men of the newly chartered SigEp fraternity recognized him for promoting fellowship among the brothers and helping them to become the better men.

The minutes from December 15, 1915. the very first chapter meeting as SigEp’s recorded simply “Mr. Hurley voted for honorary membership.” However, it would not be for another four years until he would be initiated into the mysteries of Sigma Phi Epsilon. The brothers announced the event in the December 6, 1919, issue of the Journal, He was issued the pin number 050-0088.

It would not be until the September 3, 1923, in the Journal’s Traveling Secretary Report that he would be recognized as the for what he truly meant to Colorado Gamma!

“A report of Colorado Gamma would not be complete without some reference to Pat Hurley. He is an honorary member but in reality, he is the Godfather of the chapter. He has been a great help to the boys ever since the local days. Pat is a wicked wielder of the pen when it comes to comedy, and we hope he will favor us with some of his humor for the JOURNAL”.

His feelings for his time at Colorado Agricultural College can best be summed up by an excerpt form an article Pat himself wrote and published as an alumnus in the October 26, 1910, issue of the Collegian, intitled “REVERIES, MEMORIES AND REGRETS”:

“Many years have intervened, and great and wonderful changes have taken place. Indeed, time has done a great deal for our dear old Alma Mater, and she now stands among the highest educational institutions of the country. The graduates and old students feel the pleasure of her victories over malice and over the designs of her enemies, for she had them. I glory in the progressiveness of the men who have put our college in front the rank and I hold in my heart a keen pride that I was permitted to graduate (under difficulties) from an institution that gives bread and butter knowledge to her patrons.

I love the college and its memories, and I’ll stand by her and uphold her as long as I am permitted to live and love. Time has wrought great changes and a gentle hand has dealt with C. A.C. Long live her benefactors and may she climb upward and onward forever. When I look backward over my days in college, I think how much can come to these lives of ours, in a short space of time. It seems but yesterday that I shook the hand of a faithful friend in college and since I have stood by an open grave and seen him lowered to his eternal sleep. Thus, does time deal with mortal things; Today we are here, tomorrow, touched and taken by the hand of “He who does all things well.”

Your time on the stage of action is short, so make the best of it to the glorification of the State which made it possible for you to reap an education, and the men who have guided your destinies on your way thru college.”

Pat tirelessly served as Alumni Advisor for well over 20, it is not exactly known when Pat Hurly stepped down as Alumni Advisor for the chapter however, we know he would remain faith to CAC throughout his life, he even co-chaired the 50th reunion of the class of ‘00 in 1950.

Pat passed away 7 Jan 1959 at the aged of 81and is buried at Grandview Cemetery in Fort Collins next to his beloved wife Ada.