Patricia Phelan

My first vivid remembrance of this lady is sitting at our kitchen table apprehensively talking and planning her re-entry to the world, which she must have planned well for she took off like a whirl-wind and would intermittently land with a bounce between our house and Grandma & Granddad’s - painting, scrubbing, weeding and cleaning. This lady is well known for her unbounding energy, getting involved, and her well deserved love for bananas! She's my Aunt Patrick and I have an awful lot to thank her for.

Such as the time she fed me 'heart' for Thanksgiving and tried to pass it off as roast until I, thinking it tasted a bit strange, ask what it was and then couldn't eat another bite! And then the time she, while showing me the sights of Hollywood, chose to drive up the off ramp of the freeway, and then go down the wrong way on a one way street. But aside from those, there are some real special memories I have of this lady. For my 16th birthday she gave me a surprise trip to Penn., D.C., New York and Maryland. Such a trip provides way too many memories to recount at this time, but I be recall a vivid one where one night as we were drifting off to sleep, we were talking of who was my favorite uncle and why, then she candidly asked who was my favorite aunt. I hesitated, then said without really thinking, well I don't feel I really know either Dorothea or Emily very well so I guess I'd have to say that Aunt Nita is my favorite. With that she should have hit me over the head with her pillow, but she chose to save it to remind me of at in-opportune moments and get even!! Now in defense of that statement, I should tell you that Patrich has always seemed more like a Big Sister to me more than an Aunt, so I got off on a technicality. She has always been one I could cry on her shoulder, tease and get advice from. Since we married just 2 years apart from each other, we have always confided, complained and cajoles with one another over the trials and tribulations of married life.

We moved to Oregon shortly after she and Carl and have grown closer ever since. Patrick you're not only my Aunt and my Big Sis, but above all else, you are my friend. And for that I am forever grateful! Every time I pick blackberries, or take a walk thru cotton candy clouds, smell wood smoke or see the autumn colors, I think of you and my home away from home down on Hubbard Creek. Thank you Lady! I love you lots! Love Suzi