- We should know Joy's story, because she is an example of what's possible.

- Some of the things we have today, the stadium, the Women's Bank's history and University of Denver.

- Her commitment to the sports world for women, the influence that she had on Title IX.

- She was a quiet leader, but she led by example.

- She left a mark that will be felt for generations.

[gentle music] - [Narrator] As strong and enduring as the Rocky Mountains they stood beside, as visionary as the views of the grand plains they looked across, the women inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame are trailblazers whose work has improved and enriched our lives.

They are teachers, scientists, ranchers, leaders in business, education, religion, and the arts, women who have been recognized for their many contributions to our state, our country, and the world.

I'm Reynelda Muse and these are the stories of great Colorado women.

[uplifting music] - [Dan Ritchie] Joy was smart.

- She was a very smart, shrewd businesswoman.

- She was fun, she was committed.

- She let her actions speak for themselves, she didn't need to speak to bring attention to herself.

- We would call her kind of the calming mentor for all of us, so when she spoke, everybody listened and listened intently.

- She was a visionary, she could see things that, quite honestly, we didn't see.

- I think she did that so well and had so many fans.

She could move so gracefully in very different social settings.

- Joy Burns recognized excellence.

- She truly, truly was committed to making Denver a better place.

- When I think of Joy Burns, part of an important history in the state of Colorado and Colorado has excelled to be one of the outstanding states in our nation.

And we should never forget that Joy Burns was so instrumental in all of that.

- My aunt Joy was born in Curry, Texas, it's about 75 miles from Dallas.

Joy was one of the first women to graduate with a business degree from the University of Houston.

Oil and gas obviously is huge in Texas.

At that time, Colorado was also very strong in oil and gas and my aunt chose to come to work for Sun.

They gave her a lot of responsibility and that drove her desire for business.

- She did fall in love with Colorado and I never really knew that there was any other place that she had a greater passion for.

- [Harold] And she just grew to love the city and love the state.

- I met Joy not long after she was married to Frank.

- [LaRae] She and Frank together, they were such a loving couple.

- [Harold] They genuinely enjoyed being together.

- [Dan] He was a prominent businessperson in Denver.

- [Harold] And they were life partners, business partners, and they shared a common vision.

- They had a lot of common interests, really those interests were business, and it was education, and it was sports.

- She was very competitive.

She was quite athletic and she was a wonderful tennis player.

- She had a, her own unique style and her own unique serve, it was unorthodox, but it worked and people couldn't return it.

- Back in 1976, there was not a bank in town where a woman could go in and borrow money or have a checking account in her own name.

To buy a car, they had to have their father sign or their boyfriend or their husband.

During the time when the women's movement was very strong.

And so a group of women here thought that it was time for us to have a Women's Bank and Joy, of course, was helpful through all that, her husband was a banker.

She had a little insight about the workings behind the scenes.

We had to go back to Washington to finally get the license because they had not approved a women's bank yet.

And Joy was instrumental in going back to convince the controller of the currency that a bank for women would be a worthwhile project.

They finally granted our license.

So we opened the bank on July 7th, 1977.

We had people lined up down the street on opening day with money in their hands, waiting to open accounts.

That afternoon we struck a balance, we had taken in over a million and a half dollars in our first day of business.

And the bank was very successful.

We made a profit in our first month, which is unheard of in banking.

- I think the Women's Bank was one of her first introductions and exposures to the evolving work of feminism in the city.

And I think it was a tremendous opportunity for her to get grounded in the issues.

- And by golly, it did change the financial world, so that women would have the same rights as men.

- As the bank became more popular nationally, we had a lot of prominent women come, like Sandra Day O'Connor and Justice Ginsburg, so we'd have receptions for them in our lobby.

We looked up all the major companies in Colorado, see how many women were on their boards.

Well, guess what?

Zero, no women on these boards, so we invited the CEOs, one at a time, to come to lunch with us at the Denver club.

And we would chit chat about things that were going on about their business and so on and then the subject would come up, well, do you have any women on your board?

Well, no we don't.

Well, how come?

Well, you know, we just can't find a qualified woman.

So we'd have a stack of resumes and we'd zip out these resumes and we'd say, "Well, you might look over some of these."

The word got out after we had about four or five of these lunches, the CEOs all talk to each other, they'd call their friends and say, "If that LaRae or Joy calls you and wants you to go to lunch with them, be careful because all they're going to do is hound you to get some women on your board of directors."

And a lot of the women that eventually ended up on those boards ended up being part of the women's hierarchy here in our state.

- Joy was instrumental in working with the leadership of the Women's Bank in establishing it.

- Joy ended up being vice chairman of the board of directors of the bank.

Her husband was a director at a large bank up the street, and they told him, "No, no, no, she can't be down there with those women trying to start that crazy Women's Bank, because that would be a conflict for you to be on our board and for her to be on that board."

And so he came home and told Joy that and she said, "Well, then you'll just have to resign."

They made an exception to their rule, he didn't have to resign from their board.

Joy was very involved with Frank and their businesses together and in fact, when Frank Burns passed away, it was a very sad time.

- Frank's business had been DC Burns Realty and Trust.

- Joy was able to step in and take over the business, which was a big, big job.

- He handed over the reins to her and trusted her to continue on with some very, very large projects.

- Joy's depth, as it related to the real estate, I'm sure, was a partnership with her husband.

- [Dan] She had an independent streak that she, that he appreciated and encouraged.

- One of Joy's enterprises was the Burnsley Hotel.

Of course, that name came from being Joy Burns and she oversaw the construction and the development of the Burnsley Hotel and it became a very popular place.

- The Burnsley Hotel, for Joy was commonly referred to as her baby.

It was an 80 room boutique hotel, probably before Denver had many boutique hotels.

- When you met with Joy, you usually met with Joy at the hotel and Joy would really bring you along as to what was going on.

- [Peg] What a wonderful place, it was more than a hotel.

It was a safe, warm, welcoming first class hotel.

[bright music] - It was an extension of Joy and Joy's love of life.

You would see all of the Denver business leadership community.

The governor would be there.

It was like the in-place to see all your friends and Joy would be there to make sure everything was absolutely perfect.

Joy's skill as a leader was a quiet demeanor It was one that when Joy spoke people paid close attention she was quiet but fierce Selfless, she was a servant leader And all of the years I had the opportunity to work with and for Joy.

not once did she ever ask me for anything But rather what could she do Her work at DU, it started out she was asked to join the library committee and then it just constantly progressed.

- [Dan] She became everybody's choice for chair.

- [LaRae] Joy was a wonderful chair of the board of the University of Denver.

She was very inclusive.

- [Ray] And she knew what it could be at the end of the day.

And fortunately, she got to see that all come to fruition.

- Just who and what we were and are as a university, Joy was a part of that, The School of Hotel Restaurant Managment was housed in a very small brick building It really didn't have a lot of focus - And it was identified as a program that needed a better facility.

With Joy's longevity on the board, with her work in launching and building the Burnsley and its reputation, members of the board thought it would be a wonderful tribute to Joy to name the new building in her name and that's how it came about.

the revitalization of all these magnificent buildings, but more importantly, the shot in the arm of hiring and retaining great, great faculty and staff and attracting great students, so it is a vibrant learning, growing community.

- What is left today in such a wonderful educational setting is a product of her vision.

I think she brought a tremendous amount of talent to the mass development of the project because of her real estate background and looking at the end result with Dan's leadership, it was really a true partnership between the two of them, but it did start with Joy Burns.

- It certainly has been very special to me.

It always will be.

I will treasure every moment that I spent on behalf of DU.

[audience applauds] - Joy really knew the importance of sport in raising young people.

Sports teach leadership, they teach commitment, they teach self discipline, and they teach working together toward a common goal.

- She was so concerned that women would have the opportunity to participate in any, whatever sporting event they chose.

- And Joy was making sure that they had equal opportunities.

- She put her money where her mouth was and put a lot of effort in many different arenas.

- We started women's athletics here at the intercollegiate level in 1975, and we started Pioneer Sports Women in 1976 and that's when I first met Joy.

- Joy was very active at the University of Denver with women in sports, and there was women's basketball team, volleyball team.

- At the time, there was a lot of resistance to advancing women's sport.

The Sportswomen of Colorado was launched in 1975 as a special project under the YWCA.

The role of the organization was really just to promote girls and women's sports and highlight girls and women throughout the state of Colorado who really excelled in their sports, so that there would be more visibility, more media coverage.

And I asked her to participate on the board and so she served as the president for a very long time.

- There were a lot of activities that were available for the male athlete, but not available for the female athlete.

And I think she saw that that was something that needed to be corrected.

- [Dan] Title IX requires by law that the treatment of women's sports in universities and colleges must be equivalent.

When we started, that was not even close to being the case.

- The quality of support for men participating in student athletes in colleges and universities was very sophisticated, whether it would be training meals, it would be healthcare, room and board support, scholarships, academic scholarships, all of those benefits were well- defined.

And so, because they were well- defined, it was just a matter of replicating those same benefits for women.

And I think Joy saw that as having impact, not only in athletics, but throughout the whole institution.

- And she understood the difference that this would make, it was really revolutionized and she was really a pioneer.

- A lot of people talk about Title IX and gender equity, but very few have the courage to have the very difficult discussions and I'm sure that there was a lot of tough conversations.

I can only imagine what it cost her in time and energy, convincing everyone else that this was the right thing to do.

- So she stayed on it with both gifts and with actions that the university took, with votes the board made, she really led the way.

- Both Joy and I talked with Dan about the opportunity that we had to address the need for better opportunities for women in sports.

And so he really understood and honored the value and made it a priority.

She saw the lesson in sports and we helped other schools lay the groundwork and work at enhancing opportunities for women in sports.

- [Dan] And we in turn had an enormous impact on Colorado and beyond.

- [Woman] Thank you very much.

- Joy Burns recognized excellence and she wanted excellence out of all of our sport programs.

- There were many changes at DU while she was chair.

When the university went Division I, we hired, in succession, two great women athletic directors.

The athletic director here is in charge of all sports, men's sports and women's sports and directly responsible.

And they are the ones really who took us from where we were, which was no place much in sports, to really the leading university in Division I, non-football schools.

- And I can tell you as a former athlete, as a former women's coach, being able to have role model like Joy sitting at the table as chair of the board, but also being a passionate and loyal fan made us all strive to be better.

- I met Joy early in the '90s, when she joined the Visit Denver board of directors.

1993, when Joy took over as chair, it was a, really a tough year for Denver.

At that time, DIA was over budget and we were kind of the laughing stock on late night TV.

We had just opened the Colorado Convention Center, didn't have a lot of marketing dollars to do that.

And then the voters approved amendment two and we became instantly known as the Hate State and we were boycotted throughout the world, actually.

And so Joy took on incredible challenges as chair during that year and her strength and her collaboration allowed us to really get through the most difficult times we've been through in probably several decades.

The nice part about it is we had some good things happen, as well, that Joy was part of.

We hosted the largest event ever in the state of Colorado, which was the Pope's World Youth Day.

We also played baseball for the first time in Mile High Stadium.

We opened up the Pepsi Center, we opened up Coors Field.

So Joy was really a part of all those big events that were taking place that actually made Denver a great destination for a visitor.

She worked very closely with the mayor's office when we were opening up DIA and making sure that we communicated how important the airport was going to be to our success as a tourism destination.

So Joy was very critical in all those aspects.

She took us through some very difficult times, put us in a little bit of a new direction that has been really successful because today Denver is not only one of the best convention destinations in the country, but we're one of the top visitor destinations.

And we started that when Joy was chair.

- She was a great supporter of the fine arts and performing arts.

Joy relished her work on the DCPA board.

- And with DCPA, the increase in funding, visibility and quality of the entertainment, the quality of the productions made our theater district thriving and Joy was very much a part of that.

- What she brought there to the board was taste, in terms of the kinds of shows that would be successful and the shows that she was proud of [laughs] once more.

- She loved stage plays and was devoted to attending as often as she could.

- And again, she had an influence there without being domineering or giving orders.

[uplifting music] - She was an avid fan of the Denver Broncos.

She loved providing whatever guidance she could to how the Bronco organization would garner increased support from the city.

- I think Joy's work on the stadium district board is important for many different reasons.

- Joy was the first woman appointed with the creation of the board and she stayed on until about 2018, so she came in at such a critical time when we were just basically starting our challenges with the site and with the district, with the construction of the stadium, selecting the architect, the engineers, and the builder.

Joy provided unbelievable amount of advice and, more importantly, calm as we were going through some, what I would say, challenging times.

- Joy came from the business community and she brought that knowledge to the board and I think they benefited from it.

- And she went to great measures to be sure the stadium was everything they needed and wanted, and that it got paid for properly and all the rest.

- I will tell you, we had a lot of conversations about the sponsorship and naming rights and whether we should keep Mile High, as you can imagine, Mile High had a brand and it was a brand that was known throughout the country, but Joy was also very practical and she was a businesswoman and she knew that if we had a sponsor, that that would reduce a lot of the funding and make sure that this stadium stayed vibrant for many years to come.

- Joy's relationship with Pat Bowlen and the Bowlen family, along with the Bronco organization as a whole, was one that was obviously extremely close, but it ended up being really a great benefit because Joy was one who could carry both messages, value in the ownership and the team and what it meant to the community and equally important was representing the taxpayers.

So Joy's balance provided something that no one else had on the board.

She really understood the soul of the team and what it meant to the community.

And I think that was extremely helpful in conveying that to the other board members.

- [Harold] Joy loved sports.

- She did.

- And she loved the Broncos and loved going to Bronco games.

She had her box.

- [Diane] And did a lot of entertaining in her box at the Broncos stadium.

- It was quite an event.

It was her entertainment and it was her way of introducing people to people.

A lot of very important discussions about the future of Denver happened in this box.

- It was a fun time always on Sundays, we'd look forward to it.

There was good food, good laughter, and then when the Broncos were winning, we were all very happy.

- She and Frank gave money, effort, time, in so many different ways to make Colorado better, and Denver better.

[uplifting music] Frank and Joy bought Sterling Ranch in the late 1970s or early 1980s.

- It's tucked in the foothills and it's probably every person's vision of what Colorado should be.

It's a beautiful, peaceful, lovely valley.

- Joy always had a dream of Sterling Ranch and what it should be, she and Frank did.

They were going to develop it into a new style of community, that was at one with nature and with the environment.

And so, and then Frank passed away and Joy held onto Sterling, everyone tried to buy it, she wouldn't sell until Diane and she worked together to come up with a vision that she thought would honor what she and Frank had envisioned for the community.

- When you look at her life and what she accomplished on behalf of the community and DU and Bronco fans and the female athlete, there's so many thousands of thousands of people indebted to Joy.

It's hard to really calculate that impact, but she never saw an obstacle that she was afraid of.

- No matter what she touched or wanted to get involved with, her whole heart was there.

- If you want to raise your hand and participate, the people of Colorado will let you do that.

What Joy did is she raised her hand and not only did she participate, but she led.

- She was an absolute leader and she was an absolute lady, and I mean that in the most positive way possible.

It's important for us to be able to know and see and feel what a difference one person can make and make us all better.