Patricia Lynn Jenkins

Patricia Lynn Hill Jenkins, lovingly known to family and friends as "PJ," passed away peacefully on July 3, 2026, leaving behind a remarkable legacy of creativity, entrepreneurship, resilience, and unconditional love for her family. She was 85 years old.

Born on November 9, 1940, in Taylorville, Illinois, Patricia was the daughter of John and Ethel Hill. She grew up alongside her brother, Larry Hill, and her sister, Beverly ("Bev"), in a close-knit Midwestern family. Even as a young girl, Patricia possessed an adventurous spirit and a passion for the performing arts.

After graduating from high school, Patricia moved to New York City to pursue her dreams of studying acting and dance. She trained during one of the most exciting periods in American theater, surrounded by talented young performers who would go on to successful careers. Her years in New York shaped the confidence, creativity, and determination that would define the rest of her life.

Patricia later settled in Chicago, after she met and married Dr. David Madjar. Ten years later in 1970, they welcomed their daughter, Nicole. Never content to simply follow a traditional path, Patricia transformed her artistic talents into a thriving business. In the late 1970s, she founded Nicole Originals Ltd., naming the company after her daughter.

From its Ravenswood headquarters in Chicago, Nicole Originals became nationally recognized for luxurious hand-painted silk fashions. Patricia assembled gifted artists and designers whose work transformed silk into wearable art. Her collections included elegant dresses, blouses, pants, scarves, jackets, and evening wear. The company-maintained showrooms in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Dallas, and Nicole Originals fashions were carried by many of America's premier retailers, including Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Bonwit Teller, and hundreds of specialty boutiques throughout the United States. Patricia's work helped establish Chicago as an emerging center for wearable art and luxury textile design, and her company earned recognition in the national fashion press.

Following her divorce, Patricia demonstrated the resilience that characterized her life by relocating to Albuquerque, New Mexico, (a place she fell in love with while visiting for the balloon fiesta) where she continued both her business and her next chapter. She later married Gary Jenkins, and in 1986 they welcomed their son, Tyler Jenkins.

While Patricia built an extraordinary career, nothing brought her greater joy or pride than her children and grandchildren. Her daughter Nicole, son Tyler, grandsons Hunter and Hayden Stavroff, and granddaughter Clark were the center of her world.

She was a devoted grandmother who rarely missed watching Hayden and Hunter play hockey. She would watch every single one of Hayden's Dartmouth games from home on ESPN with the team roster in her lap so she could identify each player on the ice. Watching Hayden's success—including becoming the NCAA Division I national leader in goals during his sophomore season—filled her heart with joy.

She was incredibly proud of Hunter, who graduated from U of A, moved to NYC and started working for an investment banking firm focusing on the Biotech/Pharma vertical. She would ask him every time he was home to explain what he did, what new treatments and drugs he was working to fund or bring to market. She was amazed that he knew so much about these diseases, drugs and treatments and was in awe of how impactful they would be when they were finally approved by the FDA and that Hunter was helping to make them available for the people who needed them.

Clark was the joy of her life. She was always bringing her to ballet, gymnastics, ice skating and spent every second she could with her. When Clark was younger, she decided she wanted to design and make dresses. PJ helped her with the patterns, showed her how to sew and would make clothes for her American Girl doll Julie. This past year, PJ was over the moon when Clark was accepted to the prestigious summer program at Culver Military Academy. Since Clark was 5yr old, she dreamed of going to Culver having spent many years there visiting Hayden and watching him play hockey. PJ was so proud of Clark for getting a scholarship and being accepted to Culver's summer program and for following her Culver dream. She knew this was the beginning of Clark's Culver chapter and was excited to watch her grow and flourish there over the next several years.

She opened her heart and loved Anne Inman Jenkins and was overjoyed that Tyler had found his person. She loved that fact that Anne was smart, strong, independent and challenged Tyler and would say a prayer everyday asking for a 4th grandchild.

Patricia was incredibly close with her brother Larry Hill and her sister Bev Hutchings. She adored her 2 nephews, Kent Hutchings and Chris Hill along with her 2 nieces Cindy Modrich and Laurie Siwicki. When they were young, she would babysit them often, took Kent and Chris on several ski trips out west with Nicole's father Dr David Madjar and hired them to work summers at her factory in New Mexico.

Her children and grandchildren's friends became her family along with Nicole and Tyler’s in laws. She loved the Stavroff’s, the Inman’s, Christina, Reese, Robbie and Andrew like family, and was close with all the hockey families she spent time with over the years traveling with Hunter & Hayden.

Her love extended beyond people. Over the years she lovingly adopted and cared for many of the family's beloved dogs, including Tooshie, Max, Mica, Rockie, and Lulu, treating each as part of the family. She surprised Nicole for her birthday with a goat named Nigel and because goats cannot be alone, 2 more were added to the mix who were brothers, Winston & Oliver. She thought they were hilarious, would feed them treats every day and loved watching them play.

Family knew Patricia as "PJ," a nickname that began shortly after Jeff Stavroff, met her. Unsure whether to call her Patricia or Mrs. Jenkins, he affectionately came up with "PJ." for Patricia Jenkins. At 2 1/2 yrs old, Hunter quickly picked up on the nickname and started calling her "PJ" instead of grandma, and before long everyone outside the family knew her by that name. Only her siblings and lifelong relatives still called her "Patti."

Patricia appreciated beauty in everything she did. She never left the house without doing her hair and makeup, and she believed every piece of clothing, napkin and linen hand towel should be perfectly pressed. She was faithful to two signature fragrances throughout her life—Calèche by Hermès and Moulinard de Moulinard—scents that will forever remind those who loved her of her elegance and grace.

In her later years, Patricia discovered a new passion in the kitchen. She became an enthusiastic student of keto cooking, filling notebooks and scraps of paper with recipes she wanted to perfect. Her keto cookies became a favorite, but nothing was requested more often than her famous cucumber salad—a recipe Nicole still makes, although everyone agrees it's not the same and doesn't taste as good as PJ's.

She also had a wonderful sense of humor. Tyler loved teasing her and joked for years that the family was going to have her stuffed and place her beside Nicole's fireplace. Patricia would laugh, shake her head, and continue right along, knowing it was simply one of Tyler's many running jokes. She had a knack for making up words that became "PJ-isms". A few favorites were: "Large Lots" instead of Big Lots, "Ch-Pot-El" instead of Chipotle and "Chick-A-Fee" instead of Chick-Fil-A.

Those who knew Patricia remember a woman who was fearless and eager to leave a small Illinois town for New York City, talented enough to build a nationally recognized fashion company, resilient enough to begin again whenever life required it, and loving enough to make every member of her family and extended family feel deeply loved and cherished.

She is survived by her daughter, Nicole Stavroff; her son, Tyler Jenkins; her grandsons, Hunter Stavroff and Hayden Stavroff; her granddaughter, Clark; her sister-in-law Kay Hill, nephews Kent Hutchings and Chris Hill and her nieces Cindy Modrich and Laurie Siwicki; and countless friends whose lives were enriched by her love, kindness, creativity, humor, and generous spirit.

She was defined by reinventing herself.

She left Taylorville for New York to chase a dream.

She became a successful fashion entrepreneur in Chicago.

She rebuilt her life and company in Albuquerque, a place that spoke to her soul.

After that chapter ended, she reinvented herself again as "PJ"—the grandmother who baked keto cookies, watched every hockey game, sewed doll clothes, loved goats, spoiled dogs, and never missed an opportunity to support the people she loved.

Patricia would undoubtedly want to be remembered as a mother, grandmother, aunt, friend, artist, and dreamer whose greatest masterpiece was the family she loved beyond measure.

Her legacy lives on in every life she touched, every garment she created, every recipe she carefully wrote down, every hockey game or gymnastics event she faithfully watched, every holiday spent with family and friends and every person fortunate enough to have known and been loved by PJ.