My deep condolences to Doug and to Pat’s family.
I met Pat in 1978 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. We were two Black women reaching for the impossible, a college degree to change not only our own destinies but those of our families. The university was not handing out Engineering degrees Willy, nilly...in fact they were proud of the fact that almost no one was graduating. We took those degrees from them using our intellect, our female power and our strength. We were bold Black women with the balls to demand a better future for our families by earning a college degree. I wish you could have seen the racist and sexist $h7t the university threw at us. We were poor. We were too old to be in college. We worked. We had kids.
We were wild in the streets, living the hard and fast life while dreaming of more. Ghetto fabulous. We both graduated in 1983. True bootstrapers. It was unheard of at the time. Darn, it is almost unheard of now.
After graduation, Pat moved in one direction, I moved in another but she connected with my family in California and formed a bond. We took on the world and won. No one could ever know how hard that was and the way we comforted each other in the difficult times. While she and I drifted in and out of friendship, she was always the sister of my heart. Goodbye, old friend. I miss you.
Natonia Crowe aka Toni
Palm Harbor, Fl
Jan. 30, 2021
