Patricia Jean Taylor was the younger of two daughters of Harry Hoyt (1895-1975) and Pearl Laura [Baker] Taylor, (1895-1975), born Apr 19, 1924 in Portland, Oregon. They lived at 2612 SE Lincoln in Portland while he was the foreman at the Brooklyn yard of the Southern Pacific Railroad. She attended Hosford grade school and later Lincoln High School in Portland until Spring of 1940 when her father, who had started working for the Interstate Commerce Commission, was assigned to investigate railroad accidents to determine if espionage was involved, and the family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. They drove across the country and, while in California, stopped and bought a box of oranges. My mother told me later that they were delicious. California has agricultural check points at it's borders and, not wanting to give up the oranges, they were hidden behind the backseat. [Later on that year, they were found when the car was being cleaned and washed. They had turned green and shriveled up. O, those wonderful oranges!]
They drove thru Louisiana, including the region where the Spanish Moss grows, hanging from the trees and on fallen logs, among other places. They stopped to take a photo and my mother sat down, starting to put her right hand on the log when her father said, "Freeze!". She looked down and there was a Copperhead sunning himself right where she would have put her hand. She got up right away! Patricia completed her Senior year of high school in Columbia, S.C., graduating in June, 1942. She had a hard time adjusting to the heat and humidity, being from Oregon and related to me how she lifted her arm from her desk at school once and varnish was on it. She would take a shower, step out and begin to perspire before she could even dry off. And some of the students chided her about her Northern "accent", but she made many good friends and dated some nice boys who, sad to say, went off to war. Some never came back. She attended Duke University from 1942-1944, pursuing her interests in art and archaeology, but withdrew from college at her father's request as he firmly believed our country was going to be invaded. She went to work at the Columbia Army Air Base where she met and worked for her future father-in-law, LTC Robert Leon Webb of Cordele, GA. He introduced her to his son, Robert Leon Webb, Jr. who was in the Army Air Corps, and they dated seriously. Her father got a promotion and they relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in the Fall of 1944; Robert Webb proposed and they married on Nov 9, 1944, just two days before he shipped out; they wrote to each other while he was assigned to flight duty in the South Pacific. He was shot down over the South Pacific in 1944, and was returned to the States after receiving a Purple Heart; he was one of only two crewmen to survive. Robert was later discharged and made his home with his wife, Patricia in Oakland, CA near Lake Merritt, close to where Patricia's parents had moved following her father's promotion to Head of the Western Region of the Interstate Commerce Commission in San Francisco, CA. Housing was hard to come by during that time and Patsy had worked for Kaiser Industries, furnishing their apartment with part of her pay and part of her husband's pay, that he'd been sending home to her; the rest they put into savings. They later moved into a nice home at 3314 66th Ave., Oakland that Patricia's father had purchased as an investment for them. Patricia and Robert had three daughters during their marriage:
Wendy Louise, b.Jan 10, 1950
Kathie Lynn, b.Sep 29, 1951 and
Nancy Susan, b.Feb 19, 1953,
Robert was an apprentice plasterer and carpenter following the war and made a number of major improvements to the house in Oakland, himself, which also saved them money, as she had stopped working following the birth of their daughters. She planted a redwood tree when each daughter was born.
The family moved to San Jose following Nancy's birth as Robert was working in construction as a plasterer and was also a newly employed fireman for the city of San Jose, CA.
They lived first on Murtha Drive & then at 14549 Charmaren Avenue in San Jose until they divorced in 1958 due to irreconcilable differences. Patricia and her daughters returned to the house on 66th Ave. in Oakland and Patricia was employed at first at Mills College in Oakland, then again as an executive secretary for Kaiser Industries in Oakland. Her father would take her to night school in San Leandro where she learned how to drive, sitting with her 3 little girls in the car until her lesson was over for the evening, then driving her home until she was confident enough to get her license and drive [It was during the fall/winter months, as it was raining frequently]. When she got her license, he bought her a car so she wouldn't have to take her daughters to the doctor by bus any longer. But, once in a while, she would take her girls to San Francisco to see the symphony or a musical, (The King and I, South Pacific, Camelot and The Sound of Music). She would buy them each a flower from the street vendors to wear (I chose a gardenia and Nancy chose Violets). Afterwards they would go to Blums for a bowl of ice cream. Because of traffic, they would always take the train when they were little, and, later, the bus. But once she was very brave and drove them to Golden Gate Park to watch the ballet perform out of doors. Then she drove them back another weekend to Golden Gate Park to visit the DeYoung Museum and watch the show across the way at the planetarium at the Steinhardt Aquarium. About once every month or so, they would go on these special trips to museums, missions and different historical sites. But she was also dating and on May 19, 1962 she remarried. She married Donald G Peterson (1923-1984) of Martinez, CA who had three children he had been raising alone, two sons, Stephen James and Michael Charles, and a daughter, Claudette Marie. The combined family made their home at 4737 Hillside Drive, Castro Valley from 1962-1966 when they moved to Albany, Oregon as he was hired by Wah Chang Teledyne of Albany. Don and Patricia divorced in 1970 due to severe family issues, only to remarry on May 19, 1971. None of the children lived with them during their 2nd marriage. Pat and Don remained married until Don's sudden death from cardiac arrest on Jun 25, 1984 at their home in Silverton, OR. She sold the home in Silverton, then moved to Portland where she lived, at first in a house, then, because of worsening arthritis, into an apartment where she met a wonderful friend named Jean. They were close neighbors and found they had much in common from their love of flowers to their love of archaeology, history, nature and pets. Jean and Pat had their back porches covered with different potted gardens that brought them much enjoyment until April 10th, 1997, when Jean suffered a massive stroke leading to her death. Patricia was devastated; she mourned the loss of her special friend more than any loss other than her parents and her daughters were very worried about her. She was very withdrawn, but did finally reach out and then she moved one last time, this time back to San Jose, CA where she took back her maiden name and lived with her companion, Nikki, who cared for her tirelessly when she suddenly started feeling quite ill in August of 2002, was finally diagnosed and became terminally ill, until her untimely death from pancreatic cancer on Dec 28th, 2002. She was cremated and buried near her parents and grandparents, under her maiden name, at her request, at peace, at Multnomah Pioneer Cemetery in Portland, Oregon. I think of her every day and can remember her voice and the look in her eyes the last time I saw her as we said our good byes.
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I Love you, Mom, and miss you so much. Rest in Peace, no longer in pain, in Paradise.