[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 77 (Thursday, May 30, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E958-E960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTES TO ISABEL PATTERSON

                                 ______


                           HON. STEPHEN HORN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 30, 1996

  Mr. HORN. Mr. Speaker, recently several hundred friends of Isabel 
Patterson gathered together to honor Isabel Patterson, who died 
suddenly and peacefully after a lifetime of service and commitment to 
her university and her community. She cared about children and young 
people generally. Isabel knew hardship in her youth, came West from 
Texas to Long Beach where she found success in education, in business, 
and in caring.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask consent that the eulogies made by three of us be 
placed in the Record. The first eulogy was by Bruce L. Molyneaux, a 
relative of Isabel Patterson, speaking on behalf of the family. The 
second eulogy is by Hon. Beverly O'Neill, the Mayor of Long Beach, and 
third eulogy is by myself, who knew Isabel as a friend beginning with 
my role as President of her alma mater, California State University, 
Long Beach.

                      Eulogy by Bruce L. Molyneaux

       For those of you who may not know me. My name is Bruce 
     Molyneaux, the Grandson of Isabels sister Myrtlle. Isabel 
     used to comment that I was her ``great Nephew'', However she 
     wasn't sure what made me so great. I'm not so sure either. 
     You see Isabel had a higher standard of greatness than most 
     people could ever dream of, and, she achieved her goals. As 
     easy as it may be to find sorrow in her passing we are truly 
     here today to celebrate her life. She would not have wanted 
     us to mourn for her gifts of wit, knowledge, and goodwill 
     will live forever.
       While growing up my family and I called Isabel Aunt Pat. It 
     was only recently when she offered that I could call her 
     Isabel, however I never could quite get used to that. Having 
     Isabel in the family was like having a built in celebrity, 
     never short on excitement.
       In the past week I have had an opportunity to share with 
     many of you some of your memories of Isabel. All filled with 
     laughter and smiles and it has made the time that much 
     easier. It also reminded me of how she could make an entrance 
     exclusively her own. For instance her seventieth birthday 
     when she bought a moped and was planning on riding it to her 
     party but instead arriving in a cab after having it stolen 
     while idiling in her driveway. Darn, another missed photo 
     opportunity. Or who could forget the entrance on her 75th 
     birthday two stepping to the yellow rose of Texas as Dick 
     Sharp struggled to keep up.
       I am very proud to have known such a strong and caring 
     individual in my lifetime and only hope that all of us can 
     continue her practice of caring and sharing.
       I also wanted to thank everyone for their presence here 
     today on behalf of the family, and then it occurred to me 
     that something about that just didn't sound right. When I 
     look around this room I see Isabels vast extended family, 
     family of friends, and know that we have all shared moments 
     which made her as special to us as any sibling or spouse. So 
     in fact I will thank you, thank you for being part of Isabels 
     family and your presence throughout her life.
       Isabel made a comment to me once, and she said if I didn't 
     remember anything else, to remember this. ``All is in the 
     Land'' it is the only possession which has true value. Today 
     we return her to that land which allowed her to achieve so 
     much and be so great. Thanks for everything Aunt Pat we love 
     you.
                                                                    ____


                    Eulogy by Mayor Beverly O'Neill

       There is only one Isabel. She was smart. She was 
     irreplaceable. She was sometimes cantankerous and 
     frustrating. She was direct. She was hardworking. She was 
     giving.
       It's hard to believe that Isabel won't be around anymore, 
     because she was one of the people who really helped define 
     this City--her City--as she helped to define her College--
     Long Beach State College--and even colleges and other schools 
     that she never attended but adopted out of love later in 
     life--especially Long Beach City College.
       Isabel, as everyone has heard, was from West Texas, from 
     Amarillo in the Panhandle, which is what Texans call that 
     part of Baja Oklahoma, that probes up into that part of the 
     Midwest that Steinbeck wrote about in The Grapes of Wrath and 
     which used to be called the ``Dustbowl'' during the long-ago 
     days of the Great Depression.
       My husband's family came from the same area around 
     Amarillo, and I think maybe this had a great deal to do with 
     the connection that Bill and Isabel always felt. If you've 
     ever been in this part of the country, it's not kind or 
     picturesque, but it breeds character. As Isabel often said, 
     it doesn't do much else.
       Someone once wrote off an enemy by saying ``he had a face 
     like West Texas.'' Well, Isabel didn't have a face like West 
     Texas--it was more like West Ireland or maybe Norway. But she 
     had the character of that area, and we were lucky enough to 
     have her bring that tough Texas soul out to California in the 
     years just before State College opened in 1949.
       About 20 years ago someone wrote a book about a young Texas 
     girl. It was called True Grit. It was later made into a movie 
     that starred John Wayne. The phrase beautifully captured 
     Isabel. She had true grit. Nothing stopped her. She just kept 
     on doing what had to be done--until it was done. And then she 
     usually started on something else.
       Isabel and I first met over 40 years ago when I graduated 
     from City College and went to Long Beach State. Isabel and my 
     husband were both original 49'ers, and Isabel was always so 
     very proud to have been there at the very beginning. She was, 
     among other things, the first editor of the college paper, 
     The Fortyniner. She knew everyone, and everyone knew her--
     which wasn't too hard to do in a school with a student body 
     that numbered about 50 the first semester and about 150 in 
     the second semester. In all events, Long Beach State College 
     was Isabel's school. She took a lot from Long Beach State 
     College but--far more important--she gave a whole lot back to 
     it. She gave money, lots of money--but more important, the 
     long years of hard work and effort that that money 
     represented. But more than this, she brought her love and 
     abiding devotion. She loved the College and she loved the 
     people that went there and the faculty that taught there.
       Isabel was so fond of so many people who made the college 
     what it is today, both faculty and students. So many names--
     many gone, many still with us.
       Jumping up to more recent times, there was--and is, of 
     course--President Steve Horn--now the Honorable Steven Horn, 
     Congressman of the 54th District, who was President of the 
     College for an almost unprecedented 17 years and who Isabel 
     unreservedly adored.
       After Isabel graduated from Long Beach State College in 
     1951, she went on to teach elementary school in the Long 
     Beach Unified School District for a couple of years before 
     she went into real estate in Belmont Shore where she worked 
     hard and wisely invested. I think it is more than fitting 
     that today Isabel's name is attached not only to a particular 
     part of the College, but to a part that resonates with her 
     concern for children--the Isabel Patterson School Center.
       She also adopted--later on--Long Beach City College. I was 
     at Long Beach City College for many years, and Isabel was 
     very important to that institution. She was interested in 
     students. She knew how much her education had meant to her. 
     She would say, ``if a student needs shoes to go to school, 
     you should have a little money to help them.'' She called her 
     students her jewels. She is the first person in current Long 
     Beach to be called a benefactor.
       I love having the opportunity to say a few words about 
     Isabel. Some people pass away and are gone. Isabel may have 
     passed away, but she will never be gone. She lives in the 
     impact that her life had--and continues to have--on others. 
     She will always be present in the College she loved, and the 
     other College she adopted and also fostered. She will live on 
     in the students whose scholarships bear her name and whose 
     academic careers have been deeply affected by her generous 
     and continuous involvement; she will live on in the young 
     children who store their lunch boxes and sweaters in the 
     lockers at the Isabel Patterson Preschool Center five days a 
     week. She will also live on in the City of Long Beach where 
     her name is synonymous with Giving. The great art historian 
     Bernard Berenson once said that ``a complete life may be one 
     ending in so full an identification with the non-self that 
     there is no self left to die.'' Isabel probably wouldn't have 
     been enchanted with the high-flown wording, but she would 
     have heartily embraced the sentiment. She cared enough to 
     endow many others with hope. She lives in that hope and it is 
     expressed in the lives of many others whom she will never 
     meet.
       Thank you, Isabel. We will miss you.
                                                                    ____


               Eulogy by U.S. Representative Stephen Horn

       The two beautiful tributes you have just heard would have 
     deeply moved Isabel. We somethimes talked about what it would 
     be like when she died. As I look around here and see all of 
     her friends which would have meant so much to her, I know 
     that she is very pleased.

[[Page E959]]

       She often used that old gag, which I believe was first used 
     by George Burns, but he might have gotten it from Isabel. And 
     that is when she awoke in the morning, she first looked at 
     the obituary page of the Press Telegram, and she said, ``If 
     my name wasn't there, I decided to get up.''
       When Isabel told me during a luncheon many years ago that I 
     was to give the eulogy at her funeral, I smiled and told her 
     ``You'll live to be a hundred.'' I had hoped that would be 
     true, and that this day would not come so soon.
       During Isabel's wonderful and colorful life in Long Beach, 
     she became a legend. Her generosity to individuals and to 
     local organizations was unmatched. When Isabel gave, she gave 
     not simply in dollars. She gave of herself. When Isabel 
     donated a party in her Penthouse at a charity auction, she 
     would often do all of the cleaning as well as all of the 
     cooking. Friends--some of us in this room--were enlisted to 
     tend bar, or to do cleanup. And I have washed many dishes 
     there, as I think several of you have. Her upbringing on a 
     Texas ranch gave her confidence and self sufficiency. Her 
     years working for the Navy were also to serve her well later 
     as chief organizer, order-giver, bottlewasher at one and the 
     same time.
       She was an excellent student and an excellent athlete. She 
     spent 2\1/2\ years at Texas Technological University where 
     she was a fine student and also one of the Campus Queens--in 
     the days when colleges still had Campus Queens.
       Her propensity for work and financial need caused her to 
     leave school and go to work at a New Deal agency--the Farm 
     Security Administration. Many of you will remember that 
     agency and the music ``The Plow That Broke the Plains'' by 
     composer Virgil Thomson. As a young woman, she greatly 
     admired and loved Eleanor Roosevelt and Eleanor's quest for 
     equality. Isabel supervised 25 employees with the Farm 
     Security Administration. She had rave reviews of her work, 
     but when higher level promotions occurred, even though this 
     was a New Deal agency, she was always passed over for a man. 
     So she had personal experience, and an early abhorrence of 
     any type of discrimination. With the coming of the Second 
     World War, Isabel moved to Long Beach.
       Her refusal to spend money on what she considered frivolous 
     or overpriced is known to most in this audience. She was a 
     tireless bargain-hunter, in business as well as in her own 
     purchases.
       Isabel obviously valued nice things, but she loathed 
     ostentation. Her friends would ask her: Why she didn't travel 
     more? Why she didn't spend more money on herself? Why she 
     didn't stop giving all of her money away, rather than living 
     so frugally? Then she took the satisfaction in telling them 
     that her deep belief was ``to give back in life.'' To think 
     about, and to care about, the next generation and future 
     generations. That was Isabel. She lived it. She urged others 
     to live it, too. For instance, Isabel valued a T-shirt with 
     the palm prints of the little children at the Child 
     Development Center every bit as much--and frankly much more--
     than any ring she had seen with precious stones. She needled 
     those with the precious stones to turn a few of them in and 
     to help worthwhile community groups.
       She cringed when she was described as a ``philanthropist'' 
     in the local newspaper. Her major gifts to Long Beach and its 
     educational institutions were also legendary and set the 
     precedent for others to do likewise.
       One night in the early 1970s, when I was President of 
     California State University, I was hosting a reception during 
     a football game. As usual, we invited various ``friends of 
     the university''--which translates into current and 
     prospective donors to the university. At that time, Isabel 
     was giving a $1500 grant-in-aid to the 49er Athletic 
     Foundation. In brief, she was paying the student fees and the 
     room and board of a running-back. At the half time reception 
     I heard behind me this enthusiastic Texas drawl which said, 
     ``Honey, someday I'm going to give you a million dollars.'' 
     Within a second, I replied, ``I can use $250,000 right now.'' 
     ``Oh?'' she queried. I asked her to join me for lunch in 
     my office during the next week. There I showed her the 
     plan for what became the Isabel Patterson Child 
     Development Center. The leaders of the student government 
     had told me that this center was the most important 
     student need they saw on campus. They put their money 
     where their mouth was, and appropriated $50,000 to have 
     Architect Frank Sata draw his unique and dynamic plan. 
     Isabel was deeply moved. The project was underway. Thanks 
     to two marvelous directors--Louise Maddox and Pamela 
     McDonald--the Patterson Center was a model from the very 
     beginning for state and nation. Years later, Isabel funded 
     the enlargement of the Center--the doubling of it--and the 
     establishment of the Infant Toddler addition.
       Of all the honors she received from community 
     organizations, and as much as she appreciated them, the event 
     that she cherished the most was the annual birthday party in 
     her honor at the Isabel Patterson Child Development Center. 
     Her most prized possessions were the photographs of her with 
     the children on those happy occasions.
       Her commitment to ``the next generation'' and especially 
     little children were evident in her significant support of 
     California State University, Long Beach, Long Beach City 
     College, and the Long Beach Unified School District with 
     loans and grants for individual student support. She wanted 
     students, as has been noted, to have the shoes they needed to 
     attend school.
       She cared deeply for the children's programs and this 
     Congregational church and its marvelous minister. She also 
     aided other wonderful institutions in the community such as 
     Cedar House and Sarah Center which help victims of family 
     abuse.
       One night, Isabel was seated on my right. And Councilman--
     at that time Mayor--Tom Clark, was on my left. After I 
     introduced them to each other, Tom noted that ``it would sure 
     be nice if the City had a bicentennial clock tower.'' The 
     next thing we knew, Isabel had committed to the bicentennial 
     clock tower. Later, she wasn't too pleased when the chimes 
     did not always work. Isabel was a great scrutinizer as to 
     what happened with her gifts. The city grew to appreciate the 
     clock tower.
       Of course, we all know what happened when Isabel heard an 
     orchestra's rendition of ``The Yellow Rose of Texas.'' Very 
     rapidly the Texan in her came to the fore. Keeping perfect 
     time, she would sa-shey to the middle of the floor, with arms 
     up raised, waving a ``Y'All Come!'' invitation. Everyone 
     there HAD to come, for this was her ``theme song.''
       Wherever Isabel living in Long Beach, she kept the 
     neighborhood branch of the Public Library in business. During 
     any week, she would have somewhere between 7 to 12 books 
     going. Her reading was eclectic and her reading was eager. 
     She enjoyed history. She had majored in History at what was 
     then Southern Los Angeles--Orange County State College. That 
     name lasted only one year. The students and the state dropped 
     that name. She read biographies. She read novels. And she 
     remembered and read economics. As a child, she was stimulated 
     by her mother's collection of books and often mentioned how 
     her mother's reading to her inspired a life-long love of 
     learning.
       Although Isabel projected a carefree, fun-loving persona, 
     she was also a serious, and a concerned observer of the world 
     in which she lived. She saw that world through the eyes of 
     one who lived and survived the harsh demands of the 
     Depression in Texas. Never shirking from hard, physical work, 
     she always attributed her remarkable success in real estate 
     not to luck, but to ``hard work''--as she put it--``and a 
     willingness to clean toilets!'' Many a shop owner in Belmont 
     Shore recalled Isabel changing rapidly from her school 
     teacher or real estate wardrobe, putting on overalls, and 
     buying what she needed to fix the plumbing in one of the many 
     houses she was systematically acquiring and improving.
       Isabel and I differed about very few things. One was her 
     deep distrust of anything to do with politics. Initially, she 
     was adamantly opposed to my running for the House of 
     Representatives. She felt the same way about Beverly O'Neill 
     running for mayor. The reason she gave for opposition to both 
     of us entering politics was that we ``were both too honest.'' 
     That was flattering, but I suspect she did not want to see 
     either of her friends honest.'' That was flattering, but I 
     suspect she did not want to see either of her friends hurt. I 
     would kid her and say ``Come on, Isabel, don't worry, faculty 
     politics are a lot more difficult than congressional 
     politics.'' [great laughter] I used the same excuse for 
     Beverly.
       However, after Beverly and I were both successful, Isabel 
     was among the first to be there with words of congratulations 
     and support. I did not know that Isabel had actually changed 
     her party registration in order to vote for me in the primary 
     election, until she told me that ``My daddy is turning over 
     in his grave.'' [great laughter] It was a sacrifice for her 
     too, but it was an example of the lengths she would go for a 
     friend. She was a strong Democrat. She kept reminding me that 
     because she had helped me, every Republican group in America 
     seemed to have her on its regular dunning list. [great 
     laughter] Then she would give a hearty laugh and get back to 
     what was occurring in the city or in real estate or whatever 
     topic currently interested her.
       Isabel was noted for looking forward, not backward. This is 
     one trait we both cared about, and shared and valued. Two 
     nights before she died, she was very much looking forward to 
     good times with good friends. In a conversation with my wife 
     Nini, they made plans for lunch and to visit the new Infant-
     Toddler Center at the University which also bears her name. 
     Isabel noted that she was happily looking forward to a short 
     trip with Pamela MacDonald, the second director of the 
     Center, and Barbara Holden, who was also a University staff 
     member and a good friend.
       CSULB--the university--meant much to Isabel. She was--as 
     has been noted--its 18th student. She was the first editor of 
     what became the Daily Forty-Niner. She received her degree in 
     English and History. She began her teaching career and 
     enjoyed her 5th grade students as a result of that education.
       And all of those who have called her a friend--as I see 
     throughout this audience--you know what I mean, Isabel knew 
     what was right. As a 5th grade teacher, she knew that 
     phonetics was right. At that time, the Long Beach Unified 
     School District prohibited the teaching of phonetics.
       Isabel once told me that she taught the students phonetics 
     with an eraser in one hand and the chalk in the other. And 
     she also kept a weary eye on the door as she was teaching 
     phonetics. If the principal was coming through the door, the 
     eraser would wipe out the phonetics which were on the 
     blackboard.

[[Page E960]]

       Her reward for violating district policy occurred at the 
     end of the school year. The students had taken the district 
     wide achievement tests.
       And one day, the principal called in Isabel and said ``Mrs. 
     Patterson, you must have a very exceptional class. They were 
     25% ahead of every other 5th grade in Long Beach.''
       Isabel smiled graciously and accepted the compliment.
       In her heart, she knew that her teaching phonetics put her 
     class ahead of every other class in the city.
       Jack and Connie Shainline have been most helpful to her in 
     these years when some infirmities were beginning to develop. 
     During what would be her last evening she had enjoyed dinner 
     with her good friend Dick Gaylord, who was always there for 
     her at any hour of need.
       Cam Killingsworth perhaps expressed the feelings of a lot 
     of us when she wrote me a note: ``Welcome home, even though 
     the circumstances are somber. We all have treasured 
     memories--and maybe some not so--of our Dear Isabel, but 
     nothing can overshadow how much I learned from her. The 
     difference she made in my life and the hope that I might 
     spend the rest of my life striving to make in difference in 
     young people's lives, learning from her extraordinary 
     example.''
       Cam continues: ``I spent some time with her the night she 
     died and I am grateful that she appeared well. We went 
     through stacks of pictures that she had been working on for 
     awhile preparing then to send to various friends. We had some 
     laughs and reminisced some about the warm memories that the 
     images evoked. But the pictures that warmed her heart the 
     most were of the university, especially her birthdays at the 
     Center.
       Isabel was pleased to hear the latest news of our 
     grandchild--and I know that she would understand and approve 
     why Nini is not here for her today. She is in Pnoenix with 
     our grandchild who was born just a few weeks ago. It is the 
     first opportunity Nini has had to spend a week there to help. 
     Isabel knew that children come first and babysitting 
     assignments by grandmothers are necessary.
       Isabel Patterson, as we know, was a great woman, and a good 
     woman, a great friend, and a rare human being. She touched 
     the lives of every single one of us in this beautiful church. 
     And I know that in the years ahead, many of things we do will 
     be done because she came into our lives.

                          ____________________