In Memory

Donald Patterson (Spanish)

Mr. PAtterson died in Colorado in July 2008



 
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02/26/12 06:17 AM #1    

Donald G. Pearson (1964)

Spanish teacher Donald Patterson, with whom I studied from 1961 to 1964, was originally from Joliet, Illinois. While stationed in San Diego during his Navy service in the early fifties, he started studying Spanish and later earned his bachelor's degree. He married Sara Palma in Mexico City, then began teaching Spanish in the Chicago area before arriving in Claremont in the late fifties. He had a huge talent for teaching Spanish and was one of the more popular teachers at CHS. He and I stayed in touch for many years. He said that in the middle sixties he was getting tired of undisciplined students. So he went and taught in Farmington, N.M. and then in El Paso, where I linked up with him again in 1976. He taught industrial arts in El Paso and ultimately became a doctor of education shortly before retiring. Although I was living in Albuquerque from 1996 to 2007, I made it a point to see him whenever possible or exchange correspondence. He was bald in the picture from having chemotherapy, but later looked more normal. However, his bone marrow cancer got the better of him and on or around July 4, 2008, he died in Colorado Springs. Dios te bendiga, Senor Patterson.


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