Patricia Lowery Hooper

June 8,1922 – June 6, 2110

Patricia Rose Lowrey Hooper, 87, died peacefully on Thursday, June 3, 2010 at the Sequoias in Portola Valley, CA, of a brain hemorrhage. Her children and grandchildren were with her.

Born on June 8, 1922 in San Francisco, "Trish" Hooper was the second child of Alan Jewett Lowrey, born in the then-Kingdom of Hawaii, and Mary Louise Black, born in New York. "Trish" Hooper was flanked by her older sister Helen Virginia Brown (of Honolulu, HI) and younger brother Charles Lowrey (of San Francisco), who survive her. Trish attended Miss Burke's School in San Francisco as a child, as well as schools in Europe, and spent summers with family in New Jersey and Hawaii, as well as California. Trish Hooper attended Westover Academy and went on to college at Sarah Lawrence. In 1943, she married John Arthur Hooper, also a native San Franciscan, whose family had a farm in Woodside since 1883.

The Hoopers spent their war years with the Army in St. Louis. Back in San Francisco where John practiced law, Trish raised their four children and took an active role in community projects. She helped to found St. Luke's Nursery School, assisted in the establishment of the Cathedral School, served in the Auxiliary of St. Luke's Hospital, on the Board of Town School for Boys, and as Chairman for advanced giving for the Community Chest.

Mr. and Mrs. Hooper decided to seek a less predictable life - her idea - and in 1957 packed up their family and moved from San Francisco to Paris, France, where John Hooper ultimately served as a high-ranking NATO Minister under three US Presidents: Eisenhower, Kennedy and Johnson. Trish, with her command of French and love of travel, took to life in diplomatic and international circles with grace and talent.

Moving back to Woodside in 1968, Trish and John immersed themselves in state and local issues. Trish served on numerous boards, including the Peninsula Humane Society, and Mission Hospice, on whose original board Trish served. She additionally served on the Advisory Board of the Peninsula Open Space Trust.

Trish was actively engaged in the political arena, including helping the fledgling political career of Paul N. "Pete" McCloskey, who went on to serve as the peninsula's Congressman from 1967 to 1983, and who became Trish Hooper's son-in-law in 1982. Other candidates who benefited from her passionate involvement over many years and through several offices included Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, and Congresswoman Jackie Speier.

In 1990 Assemblyman Ted Lempert recognized Trish by naming her "Woman of the Year" for his district.

Trish Hooper also had a strong Bohemian nature and was a life-long accomplished watercolor artist who showed her paintings as well as used them to fundraise for the causes she loved.

Trish Hooper's keen interest in political and social issues inspired her not only to political activism and community involvement, but a writing career that spanned the course of her life. A prolific "Letter to the Editor" contributor in local as well as national publications (sometimes employing an alternate "nom-de-plume" to slyly circumvent editors), she also published two books on her family's experiences living abroad, an autobiography, a chronicle of her political evolution from a Republican to a Democrat, and several children's books.

Fiercely liberal, she was an outspoken critic of the country's erosion of the separation of Church and State, the rise of the religious Right, and the bitter partisanship that has characterized the national political debate for years. Preservation of the natural environment, creation of open space, animal welfare, freedom from government regulation in private matters of conscience - abortion and the right to die with dignity on one's own terms - were causes near to her heart and for which she tirelessly advocated.

On a more personal note, she often wrote about her fellow Sequoians in the in-house publication, and took special pleasure in writing about the staff members there, who loved her genuinely democratic spirit. Trish was not awed by rank or social status, and had truly devoted friends from every walk of life.

In addition to her two siblings, she is survived by her children: John Charles Hooper, of San Francisco, Margo Hooper Blair of Portola Valley, California; Lawrence David Hooper of Twisp, Washington, and Helen Hooper McCloskey of Rumsey, California. Additionally, she is survived by her five grandchildren: Alexandra and Alden Blair, and Nate, Hannah and Rachel Hooper.

Gifts in her memory may be made to the Peninsula Humane Society, 12 Airport Boulevard, San Mateo CA 94401-1098 or online at http:// www.peninsulahumanesociety.org/donate/memorialhonorary.html, or to Mission Hospice, 1900 O'Farrell Street, San Mateo, CA 94403-1389 (www.missionhospice.org,) Planned Parenthood, and the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) 222 High Street, Palo Alto, CA 94301, www.openspacetrust.org/contribute/index.html

A memorial service will be held in Portola Valley on July 17, 2010.