Patricia Huck

Patricia Ann Huck, 79, died of cancer in her home on March 14, 2022, with her daughter by her side. Pat was born in Los Angeles on December 25th, 1942. She lived an exciting, independent life filled with travel to exotic places and fascinating jobs. Despite her guidance counselor’s admonishment that it wasn’t appropriate for a woman, Pat attended UC Berkeley and graduated with a degree in Microbiology in 1964. She worked as a phlebotomist and toxicologist before marrying her first husband, David Binney, and moving to Salt Lake City, Utah with him to pursue her PhD. Sadly, David was killed in an airplane crash. Pat then married Rainer Huck and had her only daughter, Sophy. Sadly, Pat then had to deal with breast cancer and a divorce. She returned to Southern California and worked at the Orange County Sheriff's department as a Criminalist. She attended crime scenes, examined evidence, and testified in court. During these years she enjoyed traveling to places such as Bali, the Galapagos Islands and Singapore with her scuba diving group. She went down the Amazon and on white-water river-rafting expeditions, and also loved everyday activities like riding her bike around Balboa Island, taking various classes at the local college, and going dancing with long-term partner, John Labbert. In 1990 Pat, John, and Sophy moved up to Redding to be closer to Pat’s parents, Robert and Frances Giertz. Pat worked at a blood lab, and later commuted to Santa Rosa. After several years Sophy left for college, and Pat and John moved east to Washington DC. Pat had an exciting job with the federal organization ICITAP, where she would travel to South America and Eastern Europe to instruct local law enforcement on working complex evidence analysis machinery. After many busy years, the pair moved to Manassas, VA where Pat enjoyed several peaceful years of semi-retirement. She relaxed by working part-time at their favorite golf course, participating in local gardening groups, and curating their beautiful home and garden. Eventually she returned to Southern CA and took her final job working as a DNA analyst for the LAPD. Pat was an expert in her field, including being one of the few people in the world with the highest level of training for bloodstain pattern analysis. She and John enjoyed taking frequent weekend trips to nearby casinos, caring for their cats Sammy and Stevie, and going to Disneyland when Sophy and granddaughter Jocelyn would visit. Pat finally retired at age 78. Sadly, she received her cancer diagnosis shortly after and did not get to enjoy her retirement years as she had hoped. Pat will be greatly missed by her long-term partner, John, her daughter Sophy, her granddaughter Jocelyn, and the many friends and colleagues who knew her.