Patricia “Pat” Marie Pillow passed away peacefully in her sleep in the early hours of the morning of June 24, 2020, from natural causes related to the many health issues she had experienced in recent years.
Pat was born in Los Angeles to R.V. Berrigan and Virginia Hunt on August 8, 1942. Her parents were divorced when she was five years old. Her mother, forced to work and having no one to care for Pat, placed her in several Catholic boarding schools, including Villa Cabrini, Ramona Convent, and Cathedral Chapel. Pat graduated from high school in 1960 from Notre Dame Academy for girls in West L.A.
She then attended L.A. City College while working various jobs at Ohrbach’s department store, Fidelity Bank, and Armored Transport, while changing various roommates during that time. It was through her last roommates that she met her husband Richard (Dick) Pillow in early 1963. They were married in November of that year while Dick was finally attending college after four years of military service in the Navy. Dick worked nights and attended classes’ part time, while Pat worked as a switchboard operator at a trucking company, Leeway Freight. Dick graduated in 1968, and he joined Haskins & Sells, (now Deloitte) a Big 8 accounting firm at the time.
Their son, Keith, was born in 1970. Pat became a stay-at-home mother, and she dearly loved taking care of Keith, watching him grow up, and shuttling him around to all his extracurricular activities.
In 1972, Dick’s employer wanted a presence in Ventura County, so they acquired a large local firm and transferred Dick to the area to manage operations. Pat and Keith were tasked with finding us a nice house, and are still in it, close to 48 years now on the east end of Ventura.
Pat was a fiercely loyal and caring friend and would do anything for those she cared about. Having no grandchildren then, she adopted her friends’ children like a great aunt or grandmother. Pat always remembered their birthdays; loved making them Easter, Valentine’s Day, and Halloween baskets, and giving them Christmas presents. She was a bundle of energy, a great cook, and she enjoyed entertaining regularly.
Pat loved to travel, she and Dick often visited friends in Washington, Florida, Missouri, Texas, Colorado, Arizona and Utah while on vacation. In addition, they enjoyed over 20 cruises on various lines over the years, and journeying to some very unusual and exciting places. On their last vacation several years ago, Pat and Dick went on an outstanding guided land tour of Panama.
Pat thoroughly enjoyed scrapbooking with a group of her lady friends once a week with lots of chit-chat, laughter, and good things’ to munch on. She loved the Ventura County Fair, and she received a special award in 2019 at the Volunteer Day, for 45 years of service to the fair as a judge. Pat judged several days in the Junior Arts building across many categories; she and Dick showed up Sunday night before the fair opened to judge 4-H entries. Pat and Dick also judged and clerked adult baked goods in the Home Arts building on the Monday night before the fair’s opening. It is ironic that, in her year of passing, the fair was cancelled.
Don’t think of Pat as gone away. Her journey’s just begun, life holds so many facets, this Earth is only one. Just think of Pat as resting, from the sorrows and the tears, in a place of warmth and comfort, where there are no days or years. Think how she must be wishing that we could know all of this today, and how nothing but our sadness can really pass away. Please think of Pat as living in the hearts of those she touched, for nothing is ever lost, and Pat was loved so much.
Pat is survived by her loving and devoted husband Dick (80); and her son Keith (49).
Because of the coronavirus crisis, there will no memorial service. However, Dick and Keith may hold a celebration of life at some point in the future for all of Pat’s friends.
Donation’s in Pat’s name would be very welcome, and may be made to Santa Clara Valley Hospice; 217 North 10th Street, Santa Paula, CA 93060;
http://santaclaravalleyhospice.org
Arrangements are under the direction of the Ted Mayr Funeral Home, 3150 Loma Vista Road, Ventura, CA 93003. Condolences may be sent to TedMayrFuneralHome.com.
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