Patricia Jane Patton
Patricia Jane Patton was born on the 4th of July, 1936, in Hope, Idaho and was the second of four children to parents Carl and Elnora Rojan. She passed away on Christmas Day, 2020.
Patricia was known as Pat or Patsy to friends and family and she led an active, adventurous, and generous life from the day she was born. She developed the art and joy of cooking from her mother and honed her skills working at Hurschell’s Lighthouse restaurant as a teenager. Growing up on the shores of Lake Pend Oreille, she loved to swim and water ski and worked as a lifeguard in the summertime at Sandpoint City Beach.
She was active in the Pi Beta Phi sorority and the “Hell Divers” precision swim team at the University of Idaho, where she graduated with a degree in elementary education in 1958. In 1959, she married Jim Patton and they later moved to Vallejo, California, where Jim worked at the Mare Island Naval Base as a civilian engineer. After the birth of their two children, Brian and Kathy, the family moved to Napa, California, where Patsy lived the remainder of her life, spending summers in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Patsy was actively devoted her community and especially devoted to children. She worked as a kindergarten, first and second grade teacher at Phillips Elementary School in Napa for nearly 30 years. She served as a Girl Scout and a Cub Scout troop leader, taught Sunday School at the First Presbyterian Church and was a member of the Napa Junior Chamber of Commerce “J.C.ettes” group. More recently she was an active member in the Yountville Community Church.
She was an avid gardener her entire life and fed her friends and family with fresh fruits and vegetables from her garden, including homemade canned soups, pickles, jellies and jams. Hummingbirds loved her garden and it was not unusual to find 10 to 20 hummingbirds gathered around her feeders at one time.
Playful, funny, and audacious, Patsy lived a full life filled with joy, fun and tight relationships. She enjoyed tent and RV camping, loved to ride dirt bikes, and became a certified scuba diver. Possessing a quick wit, she laughed often, sometimes snorting when she laughed. She was socially active with a large and devoted group of friends and regularly went out with her “Girls Night Out” group. She was a practical joker who pulled pranks on friends and family. She always had a trick up her sleeve at events and would often short sheet the beds of those whom she had visited.
She was a loving and dedicated wife of 61 years to Jim, whom she cared for with great devotion. They were true partners in life. Patsy adored her grandchildren and they felt the warmth and security of her love and devotion. She loved to make them huckleberry pancakes in the morning, taught them to cook and sew, she set up treasure hunts for after-school fun, played hide and seek in the backyard with flashlights, and tucked them into bed in their jammies to read stories. A truly unique and caring person, her loss is felt deeply by everyone who knew her.
Patsy is survived by her husband, James Patton of Napa; aunt Violet Thornton of Clark Fork, Idaho; sister and brother-in-law, Nora and Bill Nikkola of Veradale, Washington; brother and sister-in-law Russell and Linda Rojan of Stites, Idaho; brothers-in-law Gary Pietsch and his wife Marge of Sandpoint, Idaho, and Al Kluver of Sandpoint; son and daughter-in-law, Brian and Dara Patton of Napa; daughter and son-in-law, Kathy and Dan McDonald of Sandpoint; grandchildren, Joshua McDonald and fiancée Janelle Lambert, Kaylee Willmann and husband Avery Willmann, Zachary McDonald, Shawn Patton and Natalie Patton; great grandchildren Asher, Maddox, Atreyu, and Violet Willmann and Ellie McDonald; several nieces and nephews; and her beloved German Shepherd, Sadie.
A celebration of Patsy’s life will be held in Napa, California, and in Sandpoint this summer. Date, time and location to be announced.
Condolences can be emailed to brian-patton@comcast.net and kathyjanemcd@gmail.com.