Joseph, Oregon
Elizabeth Patterson, 97, died Oct. 5 at the Wallowa Valley Care Center in Enterprise. A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Baker City.
Mr. Patterson was born June 30, 1909, to Frederick A. and Mary A. Bokop in Defiance, Ohio.
She attended Western College in Oxford, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1931 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education.
While visiting a college friend in Baker City, she met and married Franklin W. Patterson in 1938.
She worked for the TB and Health Association, and was a substitute teacher while raising her children. She then taught Latin and English full-time at Baker High School, retiring in 1971.
She was recognized in 1991 as the Legacy Woman of the Year by the Baker County Chamber of Commerce for a half-century of work in Baker County. Among her many activities were her involvement with the American Field Service program and hosting Anne Rankine from Whitley Bay, North Umberland, England, in 1961.
She was a strong supporter of the Community Concert Association, was involved with the American Association of University Women at the local and state level, the Oregon Trail Museum, the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, and St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Baker City, where she was an active member for more than 60 years.
She moved to Joseph in 1998 to be closer to her daughter and family, enjoying the family cabin at Wallowa Lake.
She is survived by children and their spouses, William Roberts and Marvel Patterson of Chandler, Ariz., John Frederick Patterson of Walla Walla and Charlotte Patterson Williams of Joseph; seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to a charity of choice, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Baker City or St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church in Enterprise.
The Observer, La Grande, Oregon – Obituaries for the week ending Oct. 14, 2006,, Published: October 16, 2006