1917 – 2004

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Gertrude I. (Stevens) Patterson, 87, of 909 Plantation Drive, Myrtle Beach, S.C., died Feb. 1, at her home, after a lengthy illness.

Mrs. Patterson, the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Lester O. Stevens of Auburn, was born on Jan. 27, 1917, in Portland.

She lived and went to schools in Lewiston, graduating from Lewiston High School in 1934, and from the Auburn Maine School of Commerce in 1936.

In 1937, she married Thomas Victor Patterson of Auburn. When the family moved to Massachusetts in 1957, she became a teachers’ secretary at Lincoln/Sudbury Regional High School in Sudbury and she continued that same secretarial position at Mequon/Theinsville Regional High School, when they moved to Mequon, Wisc., in 1971. She retired to Myrtle Beach in 1980.

In her early years, she spent her summers at Cundy’s Harbor. She enjoyed playing the piano and organ, but most of all, she enjoyed being a mother to her children and grandchildren and her memory of details regarding family events, etc., no matter how old or trivial, was truly remarkable.

Survivors include her husband of almost 67 years; two sons, Nelson S. of Narragansett, R.I., and Col. Neil G., USAF (Ret.) and wife, Carolyn of Hampton, Va.; two daughters, Nancy Hildreth and her husband, Charles of Hollis, N.H., and Natalie Wilder and her husband, Daniel of Woodstock, Ga.; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.