Pat Beltrami - Eulogy / Obituary
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- View a Photo Album with a few pictures from Mom's life.
My father asked me to deliver this eulogy for Mom since he has always been a great delegator...
Mom, Patricia Jean Kearns, was born in Portland, Oregon on September 26, 1934. She was the only child of Richard Kearns and Lois Brown. Her father was a forestry graduate from Oregon State and her mother was a school teacher.
In 1950, the family moved to Amador County in the Mother Lode where her father was manager of a large lumber mill while her mother was active in arts, crafts and local community activities.
Pat attended U.C. Berkeley, igniting her life-long love for Cal Bears football and, following in her father's footsteps, she received her degree in Business Administration. She worked as a junior buyer for Macy's. She met Al Beltrami at Berkeley, married him in the Santa Barbara Mission, and became a Navy Officer's wife for 3 years in San Diego.
Next came San Luis Obispo, where Al was, naturally, employed by County Government, while Mom worked as a telephone receptionist for President Mcfee at Cal Poly. But after 5 years, and with daughter Katherine in tow, they moved to Ukiah, bringing with them the flood of January ‘65.
Over the next 44 years, Pat had an eclectic, varied career that included
- the addition of a baby boy,
- raising two kids with many youth activities including
- Little League Baseball,
- 4-H,
- Cub Scouts, and
- Campfire Girls,
- the Garden Club and American Association of University Women memberships,
- 16 years as a teacher at Happy Day Pre-School (some of her students may be here today),
- 18 years as a real estate agent with Beverly Sanders Realty,
- a volunteer for the American Cancer society,
- a volunteer for the Sun House and Grace Hudson Museum,
- and most recently Pat served as an "Angel" with the Community Foundation of Mendocino County.
She was an avid gardener, entering flower displays in the Mendocino County Fair and Redwood District Fair for many years.
She combined her dad's business acumen and her mother's artistic side to weave an intricate life history.
And she was always the real mother; patient, engaged and involved with Katy and I throughout our childhoods. Mom was a class act, and a gracious lady – always going the extra mile as needed for husband, kids, friends, business folks, and even the family pets… and she was a good friend, in the best sense of that word, to so many people, whether old college friends, business colleagues, nursery school parents or students, or real estate clientele...
But this lady could have fun, creating costumes for the early St. Mary's Mardi Gras. She was the queen of hearts at the first annual event – and later, her costumes included a huge pancake to complement Al's politically incorrect Aunt Jemima, and a giant peanut to balance dad's Jimmy Carter.
In late 2007 dad was involved in a terrible car accident. For 78 days straight Mom made the trip to Santa Rosa to be at dad's hospital bedside, because she wanted to be there. The experience took a lot out of her, and even as dad healed, her health began to suffer. She fell several times over the next year and entered the medical system – but never recovered.
We are especially grateful to the Phoenix Hospice of Willits and their staff for their caring assistance to her in her last weeks.
Pat is physically gone. We mourn her passing because she is no longer with us. But we rejoice that she is with all her departed family and friends in the arms of her redeemer.
I wish I had showed my appreciation more often.
I wish I had said, "I love you" to her at every opportunity.
I miss her dearly and know we are going to miss her more with each day.
She was our bright star that has finally flamed out, but Pat will always burn in our hearts.
Obituary
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Ukiah Daily Journal
