Hundreds attend funeral for Mayor Isaac

Isa Wallaker sat alone Friday inside the City Auditorium in downtown Colorado Springs, 2½ hours before a public memorial was scheduled to honor former Mayor Robert M. Isaac.

Lost and knowing only a few words of English on the day she arrived in the city decades ago, Wallaker, who is Italian, said she found her way to the downtown courthouse. There, she met Isaac, who was downstairs with two friends.

Although Isaac understood only one Italian phrase - buon girono or good morning - Wallaker said Isaac found a translator so that the two could talk.

"He was so gentle," said Wallaker, 82. "You couldn't find a better man in your life. I'm sorry. There will never be another Bob."

Isaac - "Mayor Bob" to thousands in the community who knew him after he served from April 1979 to January 1997 - died May 2 of complications from pneumonia. He was 80.

Friday, a day both somber and joyous, hundreds of relatives, friends and city residents gathered to honor Isaac at a private service, a downtown procession and a public memorial at the auditorium.

His five children described him as a rocklike, guiding influence in their lives; friends remembered his toughness, dry sense of humor and love of pool, fishing and sports; and elected officials extolled his leadership and vision.

Underlying it all, they said, was Isaac's deep affection for the community where he was born and raised and his desire to make Colorado Springs a better place to live and work. "Bob was really a man who genuinely cared about the people of this great city and the great city itself," said Mayor Lionel Rivera. "He really understood his responsibilities, and he cherished the trust that people of this community gave him. And he never violated that trust."

Isaac, who graduated from Colorado Springs - now Palmer - High School and then the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, became a lawyer, assistant district attorney and presiding judge of Colorado Springs' municipal court. In 1975, after years of fundraising for nonprofits and becoming a recognized civic leader, he was elected to the City Council.

In 1979, Isaac overwhelmingly won election as mayor, and was re-elected four times. Most of the years he served, council members were not paid.

By the time Isaac stepped down in 1997 with two years to go on his last term, he was credited with leading efforts to bring a new airport, water-delivery systems and other upgrades to the city. Among many national honors, Isaac was elected president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in 1990.

At 9:30 a.m. Friday, about 125 family members, friends and former city workers gathered for a service at Grace Church & St. Stephen's at 601 N. Tejon St., where Isaac was a parishioner.

Rev. Donald Armstrong described Isaac as a man of strong convictions when it came to both faith and city government.

Armstrong told a story of Isaac hanging up on him when Armstrong called the mayor to discuss city issues. That night, Isaac called back - not to talk about Armstrong's earlier concerns, but to discuss a Biblical passage.

The message, Armstrong said, came through loud and clear: "I would take care of his soul. He would take care of the city."

After the service, relatives and family members moved to a church courtyard, where Isaac's sister, Helen McCullough, laid a red rose where Isaac's ashes would be interned. The wife of a deceased West Point classmate asked that the rose be placed there, McCullough said.

An urn with Isaac's ashes was carried in an antique, horse-drawn hearse through downtown and past places where Isaac worked as mayor, judge and attorney. Seven Colorado Springs Police motorcycle officers closed off blocks one at a time to allow the hearse and four limousines to pass.

A few hundred onlookers gathered along the route - professionals leaving their offices, workers coming out of restaurants and 30 to 40 city employees standing outside the City Administration Building at Colorado and Nevada avenues. Some people running errands stopped on sidewalks; a few snapped photos and recorded video; a uniformed ambulance worker saluted; and a construction worker removed his hard hat.

"His heart and soul was in this city," said Cindy Scott, a Springs resident since 1985 who was among those who lined the streets. "And it shows. We all thought, as citizens, that the city was well run under his command."

Carol and Bob Baker came downtown from their Old North End home to view the procession.

"He was so loyal to the city," Carol Baker said. "My goodness, his life was the city."

The procession arrived at the City Auditorium a few minutes before 11:30 a.m. About two dozen people watched as honor guards from the Colorado Springs Police and Fire departments carried Isaac's remains inside.

About 500 people attended the 100-minute service, listening to stories of Isaac's dedication to the city, and his love of friends and family.

Rivera, who served as Isaac's campaign manager in 1991, admitted that job was little more than that of a gofer.

But Rivera said Isaac was a role model and mentor. Rivera said he watched as Isaac prepared meticulously before attending a campaign function. Isaac wrote notes on yellow legal pads, Rivera said.

"There wasn't a question he couldn't answer," Rivera said.

Longtime friend Dave Sarton, a Springs businessman, said Isaac loved his family, city and country.

"He was a man who tried to treat everyone, I think including Doug Bruce, with respect and courtesy," Sarton said, referring to the Colorado Springs legislator and tax-limitation author known for his abrasive ways.

Donald McGann, 78 and a West Point classmate, described Isaac in military terms: "He was the epitome of the West Point motto - duty, honor, country."

Isaac's five children took turns telling stories about their father.

Leslie Pfalmer of Colorado Springs told of her father's love of sports and his competitiveness. On a family skiing trip, Isaac, an intermediate skier at best, challenged his family to a race down a double black diamond run, she said.

Isaac won, but only after tumbling down the hill.

"He reminds us, ‘there were no style points involved,'" Pfalmer said. "He gave us all a competitive spirit."

Daughter Julie Harrington of Annapolis, Md., said she learned from her father to "work hard, play hard and be true to yourself and be true to others."

She told a story of Isaac, as a West Point cadet, participating in the theft of a goat that was a mascot at the U.S. Naval Academy. Confronted by authorities, she said, Isaac displayed the quick wit and sense of humor that were hallmarks throughout his life.

"I know nothing. A goat appeared," she quoted her father as telling authorities. He wasn't charged in the theft.

The City Auditorium memorial included a 10-minute video that showed dozens of Isaac photos, from his youth throwing a football, to his days at West Point, to his City Council tenure. A portion of the video played to the Frank Sinatra song, "My Way."

At the end of the service, an organist played Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" and "America the Beautiful" before taps were played.

A Fort Carson honor guard presented each of Isaac's children with U.S. flags before the Police and Fire Department honor guards carried Isaac's ashes from the auditorium.

Before the memorial began, Wallaker, as she sat alone, stared at a large photo of Isaac, which was being projected on a screen above the auditorium stage.

"We won't have another one like him," she said, clutching her purse in her lap. "It's the truth."