Patricia Cunningham Fischbach

1926 - 2016

Patricia Cunningham Fischbach

Patricia C. Fischbach, Midwest native, California transplant, and a longtime resident of Bellevue, Washington, died March 22, 2016 with family at her side. She was 89 and had been in declining health for several years attributable to dementia.

Energetic, adventurous, feisty, and pragmatic, Pat was an active member of the University of Washington community, where she volunteered at the escort desk of the UW hospital for more than 20 years and served as president of the Faculty Auxiliary (1975) and on the board of FIUTS, the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students. She hiked with the Tuesday hikers, sang with various choral groups, and relished participation in the international dining group. She was a longtime member of AAUW, and served as president of the Stanford Mothers' Club Pacific NW chapter in the late 1970s. Her husband of more than 60 years, UW Professor of Materials Science and Engineering David B. Fischbach, died in 2013.

Pat was born August 2, 1926 in Janesville, Wisconsin, the second of three children of Rachel and Robert Cunningham, Janesville city attorney. She grew up in a multigenerational household. In 1944 her older brother, US Army Air Forces pilot John Cunningham, was lost over the Pacific. That same year, she enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, Madison, earning a BA in Home Economics in 1948. She worked in the test kitchens of the Monarch Range Company and taught high school in Green Bay, WI, and New Haven, CT.

She and Dave met at a Baptist youth camp in 1947; they married in 1952. Daughter Catherine (Katie) was born in New Haven, where Dave was pursuing a Yale graduate degree in physics. His subsequent employment at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory/Cal Tech in Pasadena prompted the young family's move to Southern California, where daughter Elizabeth (Becky) was born.

From the early 1950s through the mid-1970s Pat devoted herself full time to motherhood and household management, raising her daughters with a firm hand, unconditional love, irreverent songs, and a healthful no-added-sugar diet. She was a stickler for correct usage; the double negative was an infraction up with which she would not put. She was an impulsive perfectionist, an accomplished seamstress who nevertheless managed to design and sew herself out of a jumpsuit. She won a recipe contest for a pie she hadn't baked in decades, then had to produce the perfect pie for the press.

Family adventures included tent-camping vacations at the beach, Girl Scout outings, and backpacking in the Sierra. Largely due to Pat's encouragement, Dave accepted a research exchange at the University of Wales in 1968 and the family spent a year living in Swansea and traveling throughout the British Isles and Western Europe in a VW van. Dave was hired at the UW in 1969, commencing the Pacific Northwest chapter of their lives together.

Pat was passionate about education and the value of cross-cultural exchange, serving as FIUTS host family for grad students arriving at the UW from all over the world. Once fond of saying that she "kept her suitcase packed and by the door," she later recanted, saying that if an opportunity for travel arose she would happily go without a bag.

In 1992 Dave retired from teaching and research, and Pat from volunteer work. They travelled widely, enjoyed time with grandchildren at their cabin on Camano Island, and remained active for as long as possible as age and its inconveniences encroached. "Bag packed and by the door" gave way to Pat's frequent declaration, "We try not to let our infirmities interfere with our fun!" Her love of travel and interest in other cultures led to numerous longtime international friendships.

Pat is remembered for her get-up-and-go, generosity, and penchant for smart remarks. She is survived by her daughters Elizabeth Fischbach (spouse Judy Adams) and Catherine Farrey (spouse Edward), grandchildren John Farrey and Elizabeth Farrey Jette (spouse Levi), and great grandson Lincoln Francis Jette.

No public memorial service is planned. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers contributions to the Patricia C. Fischbach Scholarship Fund at the University of Washington.

Online: https://www.washington.edu/giving/?p=931 (search fund name) or by check, annotated "Patricia C. Fischbach Scholarship," to:

University of Washington Foundation,

Box 359505, Seattle, WA 98195

Please sign Pat's online Guestbook at www.Legacy.com.