Elizabeth "Ghee" Patrick

Provincetown artist and co-creator of Marine Specialties Elizabeth “Ghee” Livingstone Patrick, 86, died at home in Provincetown on October 14. She was born in Washington, D.C. to Anna Taliaferro Livingstone and Kenneth M. Livingstone. She began painting in fourth grade, and later earned a B.A. in art from Hollins College and studied at the Art Students League in New York, the Cape School, and elsewhere. She showed her still lifes, portraits, white line woodcuts, and linoleum block prints at the Provincetown and Cape Cod Art Associations, and her work is in multiple collections.

She met her husband Robert I. Patrick when she first came to Provincetown to paint. They created Marine Specialties, a local landmark, and founded a wholesale business in the 1970s. She was also executive secretary of the Fine Arts Work Center in 1971–72, and its first vice president in 1972. She was instrumental there and at Marine Specialties in difficult years. She was also the driving force in the sale and donation of family land and wetlands to form the Shank Painter Wildlife Reserve, “Provincetown's ecological crown jewel,” in 2001.

She served on Provincetown’s Regreening and Beautification Committees for many years, and could often be found planting trees in traffic islands and other public spaces. She is survived by her children, Pat and Oona, her brother George, sister Cynthia, nephew Chris, niece Jennifer, daughter-in-law Francesca, and grandchildren Nicolas, Eli, Avery, and Eoin. She was predeceased by her husband, Bob, and her brother Ken.

Calling hours will be held Monday, November 7th from 4:00 to 7:00 pm at the Nickerson Funeral Home on Main Street in Wellfleet. A funeral service will be at 10:00 am, Tuesday, November 8th at Provincetown United Methodist Church, 20 Shank Painter Rd., Provincetown. Burial will follow in Provincetown Cemetery. Donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Family Support Center of Cape Cod.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.nickersonfunerals.com.