Patricia C. Potts

It is with great sorrow that we announce the death of Patricia Potts. She died unexpectedly, but peacefully, at home of natural causes. Patricia was born in Portland and grew up around the Northwest. Her early years were spent on the family farm and filbert orchard near Vancouver, Wash. She attended Albany High School while living in a log cabin that she and her brother, Connie, built with their mother. She attended Reed College before transferring to the University of Washington, where she received her bachelor’s degree. There she made lifelong friends and met her future husband, Willard “Bill.” They married in 1954. When Bill joined the Army, they moved to Ayer, Mass., and awaited his eventual posting to Germany. Patricia sailed to Europe to join him in the spring of 1955, and their son, Geoffrey, was born the following August. Upon their return to the U.S. in the fall of 1956, they lived in Seattle while Bill completed his graduate degree. He moved to Corvallis in the fall of 1959 to begin his professorship at Oregon State College, but Patricia stayed in Seattle until after the birth of their daughter, Katie, in September. Patricia was an avid traveler. In 1969 the family spent six months traveling throughout Europe, England and Ireland, living in a VW camper van while Bill was on sabbatical. Later travels included multiple trips to England and Ireland, and visits to Kenya, Alaska and Hawaii. Most recently, she celebrated her 80th birthday with friends and family in Tuscany. Her many interests included literature, theatre, the symphony, ballet, gourmet cooking, skiing, hiking, swimming and photography, and she spent time as a photojournalist for the Oregon Statesman. In her 55 years in Corvallis Patricia was very active in the community, including a foreign film club, the League of Women Voters, Friends of the Library, as a volunteer at the OSU Thrift Shop and supporter of the local symphony. Her boundless energy, compassion, grace and wit will be deeply missed by all those whom she worked with and supported, as well as her many dear friends. Patricia was preceded in death by her husband, Bill, and is survived by her children, Geoffrey and Katie; granddaughter Corey; sister-in-law Noreen Lyday of Washington, D.C.; son-in-law Bill Dickson of La Honda, Calif.; and Prudence the cat. Donations in her memory may be made to Partners in Health, which provides health care and AIDS education in Haiti and Rwanda.

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Patricia C. Potts

June 9, 1932 - February 20, 2014