Pat Van Zante

Pat Van Zante is a lifelong resident of Iowa. Her ancestors homesteaded south of Prairie City and in Delaware County in the early 1850s.

Pat grew up in Des Moines and graduated from Roosevelt High School. She attended the University of Iowa, where she met and married her husband of 36 years, Arvin Van Zante. They have made their home in Pella for the last 31 years and have two children, Libby (Jason) and Peter, and two grandchildren, Riley and Eleanor. Pat currently works as a clinical social worker and intake specialist at Capstone Behavioral Health Centers in Newton and Knoxville, providing therapeutic service to clients with mental illness and substance abuse issues.

Pat has dedicated many years to the betterment of her community. She co-founded the Hospice of Pella after caring for a dying neighbor and seeing first hand the need for such services. She then returned to the University of Iowa and received her Bachelor of Arts in sociology/criminology and her master’s degree in social work, and began a 23-year career in human services. During that time, Pat provided therapeutic services to children and their families in Knoxville and Marion County, and worked as a specialist with Four Oaks in Cedar Rapids, treating sexual offenders and troubled families throughout Iowa for the courts and child protective services. She has also worked as an adjunct professor, teaching various human services courses at the DMACC-Newton Campus.

Pat is an active supporter of the arts in Marion County and the Central Iowa Region. She has served on the board of Pella’s community theater group, The Union Street Players, and has been a director, producer and costumer in numerous productions. She has also volunteered as a member of the League of Women Voters on the Corrections Study Committee and served on the Pella Friends of the Library Board. She worked as a community corrections staff member and interned in the Probation and Parole Department for Marion County.

Pat has been active in politics her entire adult life. She has served as a delegate to county, regional and state conventions, and has been a poll watcher for Pella’s 3rd Precinct. She has also worked in several caucuses and has participated in “get out the vote” activities on Election Day.