Pat got things done! Those who knew her knew that she loved nothing more than starting and finishing a project. Whether in her home, garden, classroom or business, Pat always looked for ways to make things beautiful or more efficient.
Patricia Arlene Flaig Kuykendall was born June 24, 1927 in Orofino, Idaho to Clarice Anna and Ignaz Henry Flaig. The oldest of three sisters (Carol and Dona), Pat and her sisters took after their parents, hard-working “do-ers”.
Pat met her husband of 62 years, Donald Edward Kuykendall, while she worked a summer job after high school waiting tables in a logging camp. Don, fresh out of the Navy, was smitten and they were married on September 1, 1946 in Pat’s grandmother’s (Estella Leith) showplace garden in Kendrick, Idaho.
As Don began his automotive career (working his way up from mechanic to Chrysler Zone Manager), Pat devoted herself to raising their family. Four children, Gary Leith (children, Jason, Jadia, Joseph and Stephanie); David Edward, married to Connie (children, Amie and Jeffrey); Peggy Lynn, married to Paul Wallace (children, Emily and Wesley); and Ronald Alan, married to Shawn (child, Seth).
Throughout these busy years of several moves and active kids, Pat occasionally took classes towards a college degree. She graduated from Portland State University in 1969 with a degree in Elementary Education. As it happened, she was a senior at PSU when Dave was a freshman there. The mother and son commuted together!
Pat began teaching second grade that fall at Lynch Plaza Elementary School in Portland. She continued to teach after a move to Missoula, Montana at DeSmet School, earning the “Teacher of the Year” award for her school before retiring.
After their “retirement”, she and Don bought a RV park in Port Orford, Oregon operating it for ten years. Active in the national RV club, Escapees, Don and Pat made many friends and loyal customers anxious to come again and again to their well-kept, welcoming park on the Oregon Coast.
Selling the park in 1990, Don and Pat along with the grandson they raised, Jason whom they adopted, continued to stay active and involved. They joined the Red Cross and, with extensive training, served locally, nationally and internationally for several years.
They also continued traveling in their RV within the U.S. and took trips to Europe and Australia. Pat took pride in documenting these trips and her family history in the many scrapbooks she made during these years.
Pat, always interested in her family’s history, contributed much information to the Kendrick Historical Society’s book about the area. Pat drew on papers she had written in college (Lewis-Clark Normal School) about her family as well as personal remembrances, having returned many times to Kendrick and Orofino.
Pat is survived by her children Dave (Geneva, Illinois) , Peggy (Portland, Oregon), and Ron (Coos Bay, Oregon) and her grandchildren, Amie, Jeff, Emily, Wesley, Jason, Jadia, Joseph and Stephanie, five great-grandchildren and her sister, Carol Drinkwater of Hayden, Idaho and many beloved nieces and nephews.
Pat will be interred with her dear Don at Roseburg Veterans Memorial Park in Roseburg, Oregon.
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