Patricia Jean Doyle

Patricia Jean (Pat) Patton Doyle was born to Laura and Joe Patton in Leavenworth, Kansas on March 17, 1929. Family lore has it they planned to name her Sally, but Patricia was chosen instead in honor of the auspicious day of her birth (St. Patrick’s Day). Irish on both sides of the family, and with brilliant red hair, Pattie had the feistiness and temper to go with both.

Her first 9 years, she was a Missourian. She grew up in Trenton, where her dad Joe, was a train engineer for the Rock Island Line. Having an engineer father enabled her to take a lot of train trips with her mother, packing fried chicken lunches and making a day of it. After losing her dad suddenly at age 9, she and her mom moved to Stockton, California to live with her sister Bonnie. She recalled her mom, Laura, was a Gray Lady with the Red Cross during WWII, which provided health care and other services during the war.

They moved to Portland, Oregon in 1946, where she quickly made friends at Grant High School and graduated a year later. Pat went to work for Meier and Frank, in millinery and billing, while her best friend went to beauty school, where she met and introduced Pat to a fellow student, a handsome and charming US Navy veteran, Mike Doyle, who fell in love with her and would walk from his family home (a 14-mile round trip) just to see her. He sold his plasma to buy her a beautiful engagement ring and they married Friday, January 13, 1950. Mike worked in sales and truck-driving to support them.

After children Kim and Casey were born, they built a GI Bill home in the little town of Beaverton, where third child Kelly was born and where they lived for decades. Pat went to work for the Beaverton School District, where she cooked and managed multiple school cafeterias. She was known for great cooking that even the teachers paid to eat.

Her kids remember her love of music of every genre (both live and recorded). She had a huge LP collection (long-time member of the Columbia Record Club), to which she added new favorites from every decade, moving through the cassette tape and CD years from Elvis through Clapton, Prince, Adele, and a little hip-hop.

Having come to a renewed faith in Jesus in the early 1970s, Pat was baptized at Beaverton Christian Church and became an active member, singing in two choirs, doing one-to-one mentoring and discipleship with other women, serving as a deaconess, being available to pray with and for others for any need, and participating in and hosting Bible studies. She never touted all she was doing or sought recognition; it was her way of loving, and she loved a lot.

She retired in the late 80s, to spend more time with Mike, who had some health challenges. During the next 10-20 years she traveled often with her neighbor and decades-long friend Verna Jensen, doing senior tours from 1 day to 2 weeks from time to time. After losing Mike in 1999, she and Verna went to Ireland, where she scattered some of his ashes, and after coming home for about 10 days she took off on a mission trip to Mongolia with friends from church, where she met and ate and prayed with Mongolian Christians and saw a land few who read this will ever see.

In 2015, Pat suffered a disabling bout of heart disease which precipitated a loss of independence. She moved into the care of Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon, and enjoyed the compassionate and creative staff at Maryville Care in Beaverton. They loved and supported her (and especially her love of wide-ranging music and artists), and she loved them.

She is survived by her children, Kim Brandt, Casey Doyle, and Kelly Smith and husband Jay Smith; her seven grandchildren, Molly and Peter Brandt, Heather Smith, Bethany Lazo, AJ Smith, Mackenzie and Parker Doyle and their partners and spouses; and her three great-grandsons, Benson and Max Lazo and Vincent Sutton-Doyle.

She was our treasure on earth and now our treasure in heaven. We will always miss her and always thank God for her.