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Pat died in Colorado Springs on January 14.
She was in an assisted care facility after years of health problems.
She tried so hard to make it to our 50th reunion working her way through setbacks from back surgery. She never regained complete physical mobility, which was hard for her.
Her sister, Dede Gile, made the following remarks at a small memorial service at Pat's assisted living facility:
Patricia Dorothy Rau was born on December 20, 1941, in Highland Park, Ill., to Margery and Ben Rau ~ their first child. She later had to share the spotlight with three other siblings: Bill, born in 1944, Betty in 1948, and Dede in 1950.
Pat was always interested in sports. She was an accomplished figure skater who trained at a facility that produced Olympic competitors. She was also a great swimmer, and participated in synchronized swimming performances at HPHS.
When the time came to think about college, Pat was interested in attending a small liberal arts school. She selected Colorado College, which began Pat’s lifelong love affair with Colorado Springs - and with ice hockey! She graduated from Colorado College in 1963 and, later that year, she married Blaine White. They were married for 10 years before they divorced.
Pat began her elementary teaching career in Colorado Springs, and then taught for years in Security Colorado, as well as in Jemez Springs, New Mexico. Later, Pat worked as a library assistant at both the Colorado College library and at Teikyo Loretto Heights University in Denver. Her final job before retirement was as a researcher dealing with Superfund sites in the Western United States for the Environmental Protection Agency in Denver.
If you became a friend of Pat’s, you had acquired a friend for life. It was a blessing to be Pat’s friend, because she was always so much fun. She could be silly sometimes, or sarcastic other times, but she was always wearing her signature smile. Pat was fiercely loyal to her friends, and she would go out of her way to assist them whenever a need arose. Thus, Pat’s friends were loyal to her as well, many for over 50 years. Her attitude always remained positive and her disposition sunny. She had the ability to light up a room when she entered, and the sounds of laughter would inevitably follow.
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Suzanne Schechter (Bermant)
Pat Rau was a friend of mine. She was a sweet and funny lady. I remember talking on the phone with her during our 50th reunion. I know that she had many health issues. I worked with her at her Father's business two summers when we were in college. I wish I had spent more time talking with her.
Suzanne Schechter Bermant
Rosalie Ward (Delaney Neuwirth)
Patsy -- as we called her at HPHS -- was always smiling. Her good nature and good humor sparkled, even under durress. My recall is lots of laughter wherever Pat was. We've lost an exemplary classmate who looked at the bright side until the end. Smiling back at Pat, Delaney (Rosalie Ward Delaney Neuwirth).
Julie (Malika) Thomas (Oudes)
Pat Rau White and I both graduated from Colorado College in Colorado Springs,CO. She is my oldest friend, since we became friends at Edgewood School in 7th grade, and we carried our friendship through high school and college. Since I had other college friends to visit in CO, I also visited Pat over the years, talked on the phone - kept in touch. Jean Altman Dunn and her husband Don, also remained friends I enjoyed visiting in CO.
This Oct, while attending a college reunion, and after a short visit with Jean and Don, I visited Pat at her very nice retirement facility there. Her room was decorated in powder blue, her favorite color, and filled with momentos of friends and family. She had experienced several months, maybe close to a year, of good health, and we caught up on mutual friends and her life at Palisades Park View. Her sisters had helped arrange some good support for her in care and activities outside the facility, and we talked about how much she enjoyed a program at PACE. We decided to go out to dinner. Pat was using a wheelchair and a walker, and portable oxygen. But we both were good to go and had a great time, then visited in her apt. until they kicked me out around 10:30pm. She was as usual, positive, funny and good company. You can add brave and courageous. I'm going to miss her big smile, no matter what was going on with her health. Malika (Julie Thomas)Oudes
Star Hanck (Bellei)
What can you say when a friend of over 60 years passes? Always upbeat despite her setbacks and physical ailments. She remembered more about my life than I did. We talked on the home the last years sharing our lives and memories. I wish I had been as good a friend to her as she was to me.
Judie Kraft (O'Connor)
Patsy and I met when we were four years old and we lived across the street from each other. We played everyday. Has that much time actually passed? She will be missed.
Dale Schmidt
I used to walk to Ravinia School with Patsy. She wanted to be my "girlfriend" and made me promise to marry her at one time. Oh well. She was a good friend in 4th and 5th grades before I moved away to New York.
Jean Altman (Dunn)
I have kept in touch with Pat over the years. My husband, Don and I visited her when she was teaching in Jemez, New Mexico, when she was working in Denver, and when she moved to Colorado Springs. I have admired Pat for her positive attitude throughout her life which included several setbacks and many health issues.
I have been asked by Pat’s sisters, Betty and Dede, to speak at her memorial service in Colorado Springs on April 28th. If any of you would like me to relay a funny or touching story you remember about Patsy, I would be happy to read your comments to her many friends in attendance. I would like her Colorado friends to hear about her life in Illinois. You can send them to me through my email address which is jeanedunn4@gmail.com.
I will always remember Pat with her great big smile and infectious laugh.
Jean Altman Dunn
Jean Altman (Dunn)
This is Jean Altman Dunn with a correction on the date of the memorial service for Pat Rau White. Her service will be on April 27th. I would love to hear a few more stories from other classmates of Pat’s to relate to her family and Colorado friends. Thank you for taking the time to write a memory that I can pass on.