Patricia Bannan Isaksen

Patricia, or Pat as she was known to her friends, was born on July 28,1931 in Seattle, Washington. Her mom was Dyla Kathryn Denke Bannan and her father was Philip Laurence Bannan Jr. Her dad was from a large Irish Catholic family of 10 children. As her father was the 2nd of 10, Pat grew up with, and was close to, many of her cousins, aunts, and uncles from the Bannan clan. Her dad was a principal in the family business and Pat moved with her sisters Carmel and Carol up and down the West coast as business needs precipitated for her dad. The business was called Western Gear Corporation and they made, among many other things, the gears and mechanisms that make the Space Needle Restaurant spin, the mechanism for the Ballard Locks, the transmissions for the first hydroplanes, as well as the mechanism for the giant doors on the Vertical Assembly Building at Cape Kennedy, a building that could hold 4 complete Saturn V rockets.

Pat's mom, Dyla, was from a very musical family and her brother Frank, Pat's uncle, was a famous piano player in Big Bands, early radio and later played at the Saint Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Pat did play the piano and had a piano in her house most of her life. Family gatherings at her parents’ house, as well as at weddings and family reunions, were celebrated usually with the piano. There were many favorites that Pat enjoyed singing with the family.

Pat’s family moved from Seattle to Los Angeles, California, for her grade school years, then to San Francisco and back to Seattle again for her secondary years. She spent the first 2 years of high school at Dominican College in San Rafael, CA and completed the remainder at Forest Ridge Covent, in Seattle, WA, graduating in the Class of 1949.

Pat grew up loving the beach and all that it had to offer, whether she was in California or Washington. She also spent time on vacation and in summer at the Loyola Lodge, a Bannan family house on the Russian River in California’s Sonoma County. She enjoyed swimming and was a good swimmer and made sure all her kids learned how to swim.

Pat attended Seattle University and graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Medical Technology, Class of 1953. She was very happy to be hired to work as a Medical Technician at a hospital in Burien, WA, as she once told me, because she would no longer have to work part time and seasonal at Frederick and Nelsons.

Pat's time at Seattle U was not all work though; she learned how to ski and spent many enjoyable trips to the Milwaukee Bowl (now called Hyak/Snoqualmie Summit East) and other places on special ski trains. Among her many friends and acquaintances on these trips was one John Joseph Isaksen.

John and Pat were married at Saint Theresa church in Seattle in April, 1954. They set out to have 10 kids and the first four came on the scene in rapid succession. Giuliana was first and Peter came next. These first two were born in Wenatchee, Washington, as John worked for Westinghouse throughout Eastern Washington. Katy and Patty were next, born in Seattle. By this time the family had spent a year or so in Moses Lake and was finally living in Burien. About this time John had started his 38-year stint at the Boeing company. The family moved to a new house in Kirkland, and Philip was born.

John took a transfer to work for Boeing Rotorcraft Systems (formally Vertol) in Pennsylvania, and the family moved to Havertown, a suburb of Philadelphia, for a few months. Following that, a new house was built for them and the family moved to Claymont, Delaware. The 6th child joined the party when Tom was born.

John had the chance to move back to Seattle to work on the development of the SST, or Super Sonic Transport. So, all six kids jumped a couple of flights and ended up staying at grandpa and grandma Bannan’s place in Seattle. A house was to be built but was delayed due to contractors’ misunderstandings of who owned and who was going to build on the property, so the eventual move to Imperial East in Bellevue was put on hold. Subsequently to this delay and to a similar move by Pat’s sister Carol and family from Alaska back to Seattle, grandpa Bannan took matters in his own hands and remodeled the big house by cutting the top floor off, so unfortunately no more big family stay overs!

The house in Bellevue was completed and the family moved in. With six kids and various friends, neighbors, sisters/nephews/nieces, and families to keep track of, Pat was an inspired and influential matriarch. She welcomed all and enjoyed lively discussions. She especially enjoyed the people that were a bit challenging. She held her own in discussions, always asking questions that were insightful but also sending a challenge right back where it came from. Family was always a highly valued part of Pat's life and the house was a place to hold the annual Christmas dinner for only close “family” and usually had about 40 places set out, and sometimes more. This close family always included a few friends, neighbors, or others that were unofficially adopted into the family over the years. Some because they did not have family in the area, but Pat invited them all and even expected them to attend family celebrations. She welcomed them in and enjoyed their presence.

After the move to Bellevue, Pat and John had one more child and baby Andy came to the party. Seven kids from infant all the way to high school and she kept it all going somehow. But as if that wasn't enough Pat enjoyed and invited several foreign exchange students to stay at the house. There were students from Japan, Germany, Brazil, Nicaragua, and various others including family needing a temporary place to stay and friends and all were welcomed. The family also sponsored several foster children, and young soldiers on their way to Vietnam over the years.

Pat was always interested in learning Spanish as her neighbor and friend Ana Schilling helped and encouraged her. In September of 1975 she was able to give that knowledge a test as John took a six-month transfer to Sevilla in Spain. Pat took the younger kids and moved them all over to Spain. This was quite an adventure but was made much more manageable due to her friendship with Luis Oliart, a friend of the family ever since.

At about this time, Pat was invited to be on the Saint Louise school board. She spent many years on the board and has volunteered at Saint Louise Parish for many other things including sponsoring Vietnamese refugee families, and as of this year planning funeral food service and altar cleaning at the church. Pat had an active volunteer schedule including time on the Board of the President’s Club at Seattle University, and the Mothers Club and P.O.S.H. Auction Board at O’Dea High School. She also was on the HOA board of a condominium in Redmond for a time. She was active in providing meals to those in need, especially for the women's homeless shelter on the Eastside where she and a son prepared and delivered dinners. Also, she supported lunches to Saint Louise students.

In 1980, following the sale of the family’s business of Western Gear, Pat and John bought a piece of land on San Juan island next to properties her sisters had also purchased. Many a family event was held at the island place named “Gearwood” by Pat in honor of her dad and her uncles’ company. She loved being up at the island and loved sharing the experience with many of the family and many friends.

One of the groomsmen at her wedding was Tony Bozanich. Tony was a commercial fisherman in Alaska and Washington state, and was also a realtor. He had many interests, but one was properties in Arizona. Pat enjoyed the discussions with Tony on the properties and ended up investing in some. This started a yearly trip to coincide with spring training for the Mariners in Arizona, for her and John, along with Tony and his wife Patty. Pat was a good fan for the Mariners, Seahawks, and Super Sonics and was known to let you know exactly how good or especially how bad the teams were playing as she made sure to tune in and watch. When the Sounders started up in 1974, she and John had season tickets and she was a lifelong Sounder. At one time she and John purchased a Sounder event at an auction where four Sounders came to a private party with one of them a local hero, one Jimmy McAllister.

More importantly, Pat or “Mimi” as her grandkids named her, loved attending any game her grandkids were a part of. She would attend the games no matter the season, and or weather and was an encouraging presence on the sidelines. She had an active schedule and would try to make all of the games including getting to more than one a day on numerous occasions.

After the kids had grown, Pat and John took to the road, seas and sky. They enjoyed cruising on Holland America and cruised to the North Sea, Holy Land, Adriatic and other trips. They once drove to Alaska and back with Pat’s sister Carmel and husband Don Matson. They also spent time in Caracas, Venezuela, as part of a Seattle U program. They traveled several times to Europe and especially to Scotland for a couple of golf trips of a lifetime including walking the Old Course at St. Andrews and playing the Ryder Cup course at Glen Eagles. They also took the family on a cruise to Alaska. Growing up the kids remember many weekends at the family cabin at Alpental sharing the skiing and the space with Pat’s sisters and their kids. There were many other family trips over the years to the Loyola Lodge, Cabo, Whistler and more recently to Sunriver in Oregon. Pat and John enjoyed them all.

One notable trip that they took was a cruise to and through the Panama Canal with their adult children and spouses. This trip was intended to bring the entire family together for a short time, after which beloved daughter Patty lost her six-years-long battle with breast cancer.

Pat's generosity was exhibited through her support of Catholic education. She gave generously to Seattle University, Saint Louise, Holy Family of Kirkland, Our Lady of Fatima in San Clemente, Mission Basilica in San Juan Capistrano, JSerra High School in San Juan Capistrano and others. She also helped the Carmelite Monastery of Seattle in tribute to and following her mother’s support of the sisters. She also supported the numerous and various appeals from all her children's and grandchildren's fundraisers. She supported breast cancer causes in support of and in tribute to the many family members and especially her beloved daughter and sisters who have been affected by this disease.

Pat enjoyed her freedom and liked to drive herself to and from her many appointments. She was planning on a new car recently and had spent many trips to local car lots in search of the right combination of bells and whistles. She loved to attend mass on an almost daily basis and really enjoyed meeting her friends for coffee at Jitters or long lunches at Applebee's as they solved the world’s issues.

She was blessed recently to have the assistance of her daughter in keeping up with her books. Her son was her private chef cooking and sharing meals with her. Another son and his wife hand delivered the Eucharist for her which she really appreciated. Also, thanks go out to Father Carlos for visiting and administering prayers to Pat for her final journey.

Pat was called back to our Lord on December 22, 2020. She passed peacefully and with grace at home as was her wish. She is survived by six of her seven children: Giuliana, Peter (Tania), Kathryn ‘Katy’ (Linden), Philip, Thomas (Valerie), and Andrew (Arlene); 10 grandchildren: Philip Thomas ‘PT’ (Meagan), Alexandra ‘Ali’, Danika, Taylor, Dane, Mackenzie, Sophia, Aidan, Andrew ‘Paco’, Alexander ‘Alex’; and 3 great-grand kids: Weston, PhilBen and Kellen Ace.

Services for Pat will be held Friday January 15 at Saint Louise Church. A Rosary will be said in her honor at 10:15 AM. The Rosary was a lifelong prayer for Pat and John and was a large part of family evenings and or long car rides for her children.

The Funeral Mass will be 11:00 AM. Both the Rosary and the Funeral will be Live Streamed on the Saint Louise site (www.stlouise.org) and all are invited to participate from your homes. Due to current conditions, in-person attendance at the Church is by invite only. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Saint Louise Scholarship Fund (https://osvonlinegiving.com/1369/DirectDonate/77702) , the Eastside Women’s Shelter, or to a Food Bank near you.

A plan is underway to celebrate Pat’s life around the time of her 90th birthday in July. The family will place Pat’s ashes in the family niche at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bellevue.