DR. PATRICIA "PAT" KRUEGER EDWARDS ~ Class of 1962
April 22, 1944 - May 15, 2008





Dr. Patricia Ann Edwards, 64, of Richland passed away May 15 at the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle with her daughter by her side due to complications from cancer treatment.

Born in Puyallup, she moved to Richland when she was two. She graduated Columbia High School in 1962. After attending WSU, she married in Germany, where she lived while her husband served in the Army.

In 1970 her only child, Shannon, was born. For the next two decades, she worked primarily as a technical writer for various Hanford contractors including Battelle, Westinghouse, Rockwello, and WPPSS, and raised her daughter as a single parent.

In the late '80s she commuted to WSU in Pullman while working full-time and earned a Master's degree. She then moved to Pullman and earned her Ph.D. in speech and communications. All the hard work paid off as she was hired for her dream job teaching college courses for the University of Maryland on military bases all over Europe. Her adventures took her to Bosnia, Kosovo, Bahrain, Germany, Greece, the Azores, Turkey, and Spain. She returned to Richland in 2002 to help care for her parents in the home she grew up in, while at the same time receiving a diagnosis of multiple myeloma.

Under the wonderful care of Dr. Marquardt and later Dr. Chenal and their caring staffs, she fought through six years of treatment.

In October 2007 she relocated to Seattle for a stem cell transplant. It was extraordinarily challenging, but she went into remission. She was granted the gift of returning to Richland for five weeks in February. During that time she enjoyed walking her dogs in the shelter belt, lunching with friends, sleeping in her own bed, and playing with her grandchildren. She was also able to spend her mother's last days at her bedside at hospice.

In March she chose to return to Seattle to undergo a second transplant, this time with bone marrow donated by her daughter. The risks were great but the reward was a potential cure. Rather than stopping treatment after the first transplant, which may have gotten her a year, she felt strongly about fighting for her life.

Pat is survived by her daughter, Shannon Cartier of Kennewick, grandchildren Cannon and Cate Cartier of Kennewick, sister Diana Harter of Las Vegas, niece Sabrina Foster and family of Las Vegas, nephew Travis Harter, also of Las Vegas, best friends Judy Hall, Verna Jones Bond ('62), and Louise Moyers ('65), beloved dogs Max and Poppy, and amazing neighbors Jack ('64) and Alta Anicetti, and Gary and Carolyn Snow.

Memorial contributions in Pat's name can be made to the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance or the Benton-Franklin Humane Society.

Please join us for an informal gathering Friday, May 23 at 5:00 p.m. at Howard Amon Park. Bring your lawn chairs, enjoy some food and share your memories with us. Find us at the gazebo on the south end of the park.

'Mom, you taught me well in life and death. You set the bar high and I will honor you and make you proud but the hole you left is immeasurable.'

Published in the Tri-City Herald on 5/22/2008.

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