Today would have been my moms 79th birthday. Even though she passed away in 1999, shes always there in my thoughts. Here is the text of the history I wrote for her celebration of life. Sorry, its pretty long, but I guess it sorta poured out of me at the time. >>>> Pat was born on August 12, 1935 in the small Yorkshire town of Heckmondwike, near Leeds, England. She was the only child of Henry C. and Ellen Hirst, known affectionately as Cecil and Ella. Her father was an electrical engineer who joined the British Army at the outbreak of World War II in 1939. Pat was not to see her father again until 1945. During the war, Pat and her mother housed mothers and children evacuated from London. As an officer in the British Engineer Corps, Cecil chased Rommel across North Africa, invaded Sicily, and ended the war in Italy. After the war, the family moved to several different locations in England before settling in the small town of Bishop’s Stortford, about an hour north of London. As fate would have it, the U.S. Army was building the Stanstead Air Base nearby. Their ace welder was a tall, dark, and handsome young man raised on a Kansas farm. Roger and Pat met and fell in love. Upon his discharge from the Army, Roger returned home, and Pat soon followed. She traveled the Atlantic with her friend Brenda on the Queen Elizabeth ocean liner. She made her way to the heart of her newly adopted country. The couple were married in the First Congregational Church in Council Grove, Kansas on July 21, 1957. The couple tried their hand at farming but the Kansas weather gods were not kind. Roger found welding work on the Hell’s Canyon Dam in Idaho. They moved to Boise where Pat gave birth to Steve on May 27, 1958. The salmon run on the Snake River stopped construction, so they decided to head for booming California. Roger found work at FMC in San Jose so they moved to the rapidly growing city. In 1959 Roger joined the San Jose Fire Department where he was to work for the next 27 years. Daughter Sandie was born at San Jose Hospital on February 27, 1960. Soon, Pat and Roger made the first of what was to be many real estate purchases, an unassuming bungalow on Joanne Avenue on the east side of San Jose. The sixties found the growing family moving around the San Jose area and working hard. On Whitman Way they lived across the street from Hal and Jo Harmon, who became lifelong friends. In 1964 they built a house on one acre off of Mountain Charley Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. This was in the days when Highway 17 had no center barrier! One close call too many and it was back down to the valley, where, in 1967, they built a house on Elwood Road in the Almaden Country Club. During this time, Pat worked as a proofreader for the Monarch Match Company, and Roger maintained landscaping on his days off. The whole family would pitch in maintaining the grounds of St. Edwards Episcopal Church at the corner of Union and Branham (now Highway 85). Pat was able to bring her parents to America in 1968. They eventually settled into the Mobileparks West mobile home park on North First Street, where they enjoyed recreation facilities, gardening, and visits from their daughter’s family. In 1969 Taffy, a Welsh Corgi, joined the family. Taffy lived for over 14 years and a Corgi has been a member of the family ever since. Pat thoroughly enjoyed and loved her obedient little dogs. In 1973, Pat obtained her Real Estate license. She became an agent for Tops Realty on Lincoln Avenue. There she met the late Winnie Santoro, who was to be her business partner and friend. In 1975 the family built a new house on Wooded Lake Drive. This time they minimized the use of contractors and supplied much of the labor themselves. Pat was especially adept with the enamel, wallpapering, and of course, interior design. Meanwhile, her real estate prowess in Almaden was taking hold, first at Century 21, then Almaden Oaks Realty. She also bought her first brand-new luxury car, a 1975 silver Cadillac. Her pride in owning a fine luxury car never wavered through the years. 1978 saw the family’s final move, into a fixer-upper on Hampton Drive. It is hard to imagine the sad shape this house was in when you see it today. Pat and Roger would spend countless hours (and $’S !) renovating the house throughout the years. Today the house is a reflection of Pat’s love of decor and tireless energy. With Steve’s graduation from U.C. Berkeley and Sandie’s marriage to Ron Sanchez in 1981, the couple found themselves free at last! Pat worked hard at Real Estate, allowing the couple to take many extended vacations to various points throughout the country and to Pat’s beloved England. Pat loved to travel and continued to do so until the end. Pat’s mother was diagnosed with lymphoma. After a struggle with chemo and radiation treatments, she passed away on the July 4th weekend, 1985. Cecil took the loss hard, and after a series of ailments, passed away in 1990. Pat was completely devoted to her parents, making a better life for them in the United States and providing complete and unconditional support to them over the years. In 1987, Steve married Yollie, and Pat became an instant grandmother with step-grandsons Joseph and Paolo. Her first granddaughter came later that year with the birth of Sarah. Christina’s birth in 1990 gave Pat a second granddaughter, and Ron and Sandie the child they prayed for. Pat cherished and loved her grandchildren immensely. Pat and Roger purchased their first vacation home in 1988, a big fixer-upper in North Lake Tahoe. Fix-er-up they did, and soon moved to the amenities of Incline Village. Pat tremendously enjoyed spending time in her Tahoe hideaways, relaxing in the mountain air away from the stresses of real estate. Pat was at the top of her game in 1995. A respected and successful real estate agent for the Almaden Cornish and Carey office, she was always on the move in her Mercedes. We couldn’t understand why she would suddenly just doze off. Roger’s concern knocked down the doors at Kaiser until they finally gave her a CT scan. They finally found the culprit: a large-cell lymphoma tumor the size of a golf ball in her brain. The tumor was inoperable. Pat underwent full brain radiation and chemotherapy. Always exhibiting the British resolve and stiff upper lip, she withstood treatments that killed others. These treatments resulted in a severe amount of damage to her brain. She was constantly battling blood clots, deteriorating vision, loss of memory, and pneumonia. This did not slow her down. After completion of her initial treatment, she even traveled to Great Britain by herself. In addition to seeing relatives, she even visited Edinburgh all by herself. The cancer was in remission, so Pat and Roger traveled extensively to various places throughout the country and the world, including the East Coast, Arizona, Kansas, Alaska, Mexico, and England and Scotland a second time. They had to cancel plans for a trip to Spain in April due to Pat’s pneumonia, and had made plans for a trip to Quebec when the end came. Pat would like to be remembered as a doer and a devoted mother and daughter who always went the extra mile for her loved ones. She was extremely energetic, organized, and driven to success. Above all, she maintained a high degree of integrity. She appreciated beauty in her home, her homeland, and far away places. Pat was a special lady that touched the lives of all she met. She will be sorely missed, but always loved by those who loved her.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 15:13:54 +0000
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