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BORN

1945

DIED

2022

Patricia Vanderwarker Obituary

Patricia Reese Vanderwarker
Patricia Reese Vanderwarker died on March 23, 2022. She was 77.
Patricia (Patty) was born in Wilmington, Delaware on January 18, 1945, to David Meredith Reese, Sr. and Ann Louisa Corbit. She attended the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware and later graduated from Oldfields School in Maryland in 1962. She later received her associates degree in secretarial studies at Bennett Junior College in Millbrook, New York.
After college Patty worked at The New Yorker Magazine as an administrative assistant in the advertising sales department. It was in Manhattan where she met her husband of fifty-four years, Richard (Skip) Vanderwarker. With their two young boys in tow, the young family moved to New Canaan, Connecticut in the mid-1970s where they were active members of the New Canaan Winter Club, St. Marks Church, and the Country Club of New Canaan. In the early 1980s, Patty gave birth to her third child, daughter Meredith.
Patty was an avid sportswoman. At a young age, her father encouraged her to join her two older brothers on the tennis court, the golf course and on the water. "Reese Cup" was the captain of the Oldfields basketball team and became a proficient golfer as a young woman. She was a popular invite by men and women for her remarkably consistent play and scoring, but even more so for her easy-going and positive outlook on and off the course. Patty was always game for anything and still active in her sporting pursuits in even her last hours with us.
However, her most cherished time of her life was her days and nights at her family cottage on Martha's Vineyard where Patty summered every year since she was two years old. After her daily morning swim, she would stroll the beach in search of sea glass, always eager to come across a rare blue piece as she savored the moment before getting ready for the waking household. Active in the West Chop community, she was a regular at the Sunday Service talks and often lingered until the lunch hour catching up with old friends and welcoming the new.
When not on the Vineyard, Patty and Skip were active in their community of Spring Island, South Carolina to where they retired. Patty enjoyed many rounds of golf, tennis, nature walks, yoga classes, active bridge games, and dinners with their many friends over the past twenty years.
Generous with her time and support over the years, Patty was extremely active as a volunteer, benefactor, and committee member to numerous organizations, including Meals on Wheels, the Oldfields School, the Historic Odessa Foundation, the West Chop Trust, St. Mark's Church, and later giving her time as chairman of the golf committee and the flowers guild on Spring Island, organizing book donations at the locals owners market, and set up nativity scenes at a friend's local church.
Patty will be remembered for the universal grace and ease she had with everyone, her selfless patience and thoughtfulness, and the thousands of small and big acts of service she quietly did for so many. Impossible to forget will be her usual friendly sign-off of "Cheers" or her many letters and notes to friends and acquaintances over the years. A habit and practice she taught her children at a young age and one they strive to carry on, despite never reaching their mother's near mystical ability to correspond at scale with nearly everyone she knew.
In addition to her husband Skip, Patty is survived by her children Dean Vanderwarker and his wife Lynette, Derek Vanderwarker, Meredith Martin and her husband Tucker, and six grandchildren, Reese, Annie, Eben, Beatrice, Georgia and Belle. She is also survived by brothers, David M. Reese, Jr. and John C. Reese and many loving family members.
A memorial service will be held at Trinity Church in Wilmington, DE on May 21 at 10:30am. She will be interred at the Corbit Family Cemetery in Odessa, DE.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either The Low Country Institute, The West Chop Community Fund or The Historic Odessa Foundation.

Published by New Canaan Advertiser on Apr. 26, 2022.
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She was a fabulous person and the best dancer in the coming out party era.
The Oldfield and Bennet girls were the best !!!!!

Ogden H. (Denny)Sutro

Denny Sutto

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October 19, 2023

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