Edith Patricia Houghton

On January 29, 2013, Patricia Houghton, of Lansdowne, Virginia, died peacefully in Springfield, Virginia.

Born Edith Patricia Harford in Kenosha, Wisconsin to James W. Harford and Harriet Last Harford, Pat had just celebrated her 88th birthday on January 20. (An error in government paperwork changed the family name from Harford to Hartford in the early ‘40s.)

Pat will be missed by her surviving family, daughter, Monica Houghton Williams, her husband Blane, and two grandsons, Garrett A. and Vincent H. all of Woodbridge, VA. She is predeceased by her son, Alexander “Sandy” Houghton.

In her youth Pat sang with local jazz bands in the Chicago area. While working at the Naval Station Great Lakes, she met her now former husband and traveled the world as the wife of a naval officer. Stationed in Hong Kong, the Philippines, and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Pat immersed herself in local cultures and art. At Pearl Harbor she arranged visits for family members of those lost aboard the USS. Arizona.

With the last Navy move, Pat settled in Falls Church where she raised her two children, and worked for the Department of the Navy until her retirement in 1990. Pat had passion for gardening, painting, and music. She was a member of the Greater Falls Church Republican Women’s Club. She was an active member of St. Theresa’s Catholic Church in Ashburn.

A funeral mass will be held at 11:00 a.m. on February 18, 2013 at St. Theresa’s Catholic Church, 21371 St. Theresa Lane, Ashburn, VA 20147. Private interment will follow.