Patricia Trahan died peacefully on April 17, 2020 at Clearwater Lodge in Cloverdale, California, surrounded by her devoted caregivers, after struggling for a decade with brain injury and cancer. Born to Roma and Merrill Knapp on April 4, 1938 aboard a ship bound for Albania, Pat had just celebrated her 82nd birthday.
She grew up in Ithaca, New York with her two younger sisters, Sue and Vicki, and attended Cornell University. She made her career at the New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. She met her future husband, Donald Trahan, serendipitously while on vacation in California, hiking through Big Sur, and had a courtship through letter writing, including Don’s proposal of marriage. Pat and Don lived in Salinas since the mid-1970s, and in Cloverdale since 2000.
Pat was an enthusiastic volunteer, working for Cornell University’s undergraduate student recruitment efforts, Hidden Valley – an Institute of the Performing Arts in Carmel Valley, and the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah. Pat explained, “Being a docent is a wonderful conversation with your museum visitors. You learn so much from each other.”
She is remembered fondly by her step-daughter Jennifer Trahan; grandchildren Ted and Nicole Trahan; sister and brother-in-law Sue and Staś Szumski; niece and nephew Lisa and Lenny Szumski; niece and family, Erica and Mike Johnson and Cody; nephew and family Kevin and Lena Schultz and Alex and Keenan; cousins Peter Ossulston, Anne McVittie, Nancy Stevenson, and Annie and Timothy Poirier; and friends — for her grace, generosity of spirit, love, humor, and engaging letter-writing — she always had the perfect words.
Love always.
