Christine Ann Sims Rochester, a CSU Pueblo professor who pioneered outdoor experiential education and spent more than two decades mentoring future teachers through wilderness adventures, died July 19 at her home in Salida, Colorado. She was 60.
The cause was cancer, according to family members.
Rochester joined CSU Pueblo’s Exercise Science, Health and Physical Education Recreation faculty in 2001 and became coordinator of the Physical Education Teacher Education program. She took the classroom beyond campus walls. Rochester led students on annual canyoneering expeditions, served as academic leader of the university’s Wilderness Education Association certification program, and developed online curricula that connected what she called “mindfulness, nature bathing and movement” to leadership development.
Her approach reflected a philosophy shaped by personal experience. Having found her own path to recovery through Alcoholics Anonymous after years following the Grateful Dead tour circuit, Rochester understood transformation could happen in unexpected places. She applied this insight to her academic work, focusing her research on youth development through physical activity, particularly for high-risk students who might struggle in traditional educational settings.
“Christine was one of the most genuine people I had ever met,” said Tina Twilleger, associate dean and director for the School of Health Sciences and Human Movement. “She was kind, smart, full of life and fun. She was a beautiful person inside and out.”
Born Christine Ann Sims on May 29, 1965, in Pittsburgh, she was raised in Carnegie, Pennsylvania, by her mother, Nancy McCartney, and grandmother Helen Zirwas, along with her sister Deanna McCaffery. She never knew her father, Ed Sims, but later in life discovered and reunited with half-siblings through him.
At Carlynton High School, Christine excelled in softball and basketball. One of her proudest moments was stealing the ball from Suzie McConnell, who would go on to become a WNBA star, during her senior year. She played college lacrosse at Slippery Rock College before earning her bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
After graduation, she traveled through Europe with her mother, then moved to New Mexico, where she taught at Carlos Gilbert and Acequia Madres schools while coaching soccer and basketball at Capital High School.
Her summers took an unconventional turn in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She followed the Grateful Dead across the country for more than 48 shows, operating a successful business selling spinning sticks to fellow concertgoers. The experience taught her entrepreneurship and exposed her to diverse communities, but it also led to struggles with substance abuse.
Recovery through AA became a turning point. “She built a loving, kind family with AA and Al-Anon,” her family said in a statement.
Rochester earned her master’s degree in education and later a doctorate from the University of Colorado in 2000, specializing in curriculum reform and youth development through physical activity.
At CSU Pueblo, she became known for pushing boundaries. Rather than confining physical education to gymnasiums, she took students into Colorado’s wilderness areas, teaching them that canyons could serve as classrooms and mountain peaks as laboratories for understanding human potential and environmental stewardship.
Carol Foust, associate dean and director of the School of Health Sciences and Human Movement, remembered Rochester as someone who “cared deeply about people and her students” and was “full of gratitude.”
“She was adventurous, generous, kind and fun,” Foust said. “I have so many wonderful memories of outdoor activities, drumming, deep discussions and laughter I shared with her, as do the rest of the faculty in Health Sciences and Human Movement.”
Her research focused on creating opportunities for high-risk youth through physical activity, drawing from her understanding that traditional academic approaches didn’t work for everyone. She developed online graduate and undergraduate curricula that emphasized experiential learning and published work on curriculum reform in physical education.
Outside academia, Rochester volunteered as a ranger and board member at the Nature & Wildlife Discovery Center mountain park in Beulah, Colorado, where she taught biking, hiking and boating to visitors of all ages.
In 2002, she married Lance Rochester. Their 15-year partnership centered on outdoor sports, recovery and mutual support. They divorced but remained connected through their shared experiences in Colorado’s backcountry.
Rochester was recognized for 20 years of service to CSU Pueblo in 2021. Her colleagues describe someone who “never knew a stranger” and approached life with infectious joy and openness.
She was looking forward to sharing the next chapter of her life with Preston Preble and her beloved dogs, Peggy O and Corinna.
Rochester is survived by her sister Deanna McCaffery; nephew Noah; brother-in-law Scott; aunt Gerry; sister Shari; and longtime friend Joanne, whom she called her “partner in crime.” She is also survived by countless friends from the Grateful Dead community and her AA and Al-Anon families.
“My family thought of her as family,” Twilleger said. “I think about her every day and the impact she had on CSU Pueblo, our team and me and my family on a personal level. Our hearts will always be filled with her presence.”
Her legacy lives on in the thousands of students she taught, the outdoor education programs she developed, and an approach to learning that recognized classrooms could exist anywhere curiosity and wonder intersected with the natural world.
