Obituary of Maxine Patterson

Maxine Patterson (never call her Ida!) was always a woman who had drive and desire for the things she did and the people around her.

Her parents Roy and Emma Canfield had a large family of 9 children of which Maxine was the 7th. Her relationships with family were embedded in her by her parents and continued until the time of her death. Family was always a big part of her life and she took every chance she could to have a family get together when anyone came to town or for special occasions or just because.

Her first real professional job was as a teller for Prudential and at a young age became the first female manager that the company had over a group of women tellers (women were not allowed to manage men at the time).

Maxine met her future husband W.L Patterson (Pat), while working at Prudential. He was her boss (sort of) and they would walk the daily receipts to the bank together. Feelings began to develop as they spent more time together; however, sparks really ignited at the annual office Christmas party. She talked about how they had to keep their dating and eventual engagement a secret until they made it public, at which time she was required to resign. Maxine, Pat, and his two young boys became a family some 68 years ago.

When she gave birth to her two daughters, the process made her fascinated with becoming a nurse and she attended Pasadena City College where she received her nursing accreditation and began a life long career as a nurse.

Maxine spent the majority of her career as a Rehab nurse, helping establish Lutheran Medical Center’s Rehab unit and its protocols. She was known to be not only a nurse but a patient advocate in her time there. Even after retiring, she continued nursing as a visiting nurse.

She loved being a nurse right up to the end, including second-guessing the nurses taking care of her. She was able to use her rehab training to get son-in-law David off the floor and up into his chair when she was in her late 80's. And she applied the same training to herself to get up out of a chair and on her feet like someone 20 years younger.

She loved both travel and her grandkids and often combined the two by taking them with her on her voyages with her sisters, spouses and extended family. Maxine saw the world with her family and spoke many times of the joy it brought to her to share the experiences with them.

As a young adult, she and her sisters, brothers & their spouses built a family cabin in the mountains with their own hands and ingenuity. They dug the foundation out of the granite mountain with nothing but shovels and used a divining rod to find the well that provides

water to this day. Later with her husband Pat, she spent many happy hours improving, remodeling and decorating the place while we kids helped a little, but mostly just played outside.

She loved her dogs. Sitting watching the Hallmark channel with Jezebel or Cheri in her lap as she stroked them and they cuddled her was her happy place. Of course, she couldn't resist Jezebel's pleading eyes, so extra snacks nearly doubled Jez's weight.

She was in her 80's when she decided to develop the top of the hill in the back yard. It was a multi year project with help from her grandson Skyler, daughter Jan and others requiring lots of shoveling, hauling, leveling, tree trimming and landscaping. She finally got it done even after taking a tumble down the hill. She must have felt a lot of pride and satisfaction sitting in her “little park” at her garden table at the top of the hill on the patio she had dreamed of and finally achieved.

One of Maxine’s greatest passions and some may say obsession throughout her entire life was the recording of family and personal events with photos, movies and video. These turned into numerous albums, scrapbooks and finally her magnum opus- In her mid 70s, She compiled all of her videos into a collection of over 200 DVD's with label art and background music, all done by her!

Maxine had strong opinions established over the years and experiences she had lived (which were many), but her love and support for family and all children never wavered.