Patricia Orton Spurr

1922, - 2018

Patricia Orton Spurr passed away October 28 due to complications from a fall. She was 96. Pat was born in State College, Pennsylvania on June 25, 1922, the middle child of Clayton and Ethel Orton. The family moved to Morgantown, West Virginia, when Patricia's father became the Dean of Agriculture at the University of West Virginia. She grew up in a home filled with books, travel and love. She was a bit of a tomboy, and loved riding her bike and fishing with her dad. By high school, she loved dancing and music.

While Pat was in high school, her father frequently invited graduate students and post-docs over for dinner. One was particularly memorable; while Stephen Spurr was shy, Pat remembered that he was smart as a whip and told very bad jokes.

Pat went to the University of Michigan in 1940 to study Library Science. Not long after she arrived in Ann Arbor, that brilliant bad punster, Steve Spurr, came to town and invited her to dinner. After a few more dinners, Steve proposed to Pat on April 1st (April Fools Day) in front of a small zoo on the U of M campus. Pat asked him to repeat the proposal on April 2! They married on August 18, 1945.

Pat and Steve first moved to Petersham, Massachusetts where Steve was the Director of the Harvard Forest. Their son Daniel Orton Spurr was born in Petersham in 1947. The family moved to St. Paul, Minnesota, and on to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Steve was a professor of forestry. Daughter Jean Burchard Spurr was born in 1956.

Patricia was an adventuresome gal! She and Steve traveled all over the world, floated the Grand Canyon and the middle fork of the Salmon, hiked the Matterhorn, snorkeled in Fiji, rode ostriches in Africa, and horses to the top of Mount Whitney in California. The family lived in New Zealand for a year while Steve was on sabbatical, and traveled often to Central America where Steve launched the Organization for Tropical Studies. While not traveling, Pat played bridge weekly and was an avid camper, birdwatcher, gardener, and badminton player. She also had a strong interest in jewelry-making and lapidary arts.

In the 1960s and early 1970s Steve's professional star continued to rise and Pat found herself moving to Austin, Texas, in 1971, as the wife of the President of the University of Texas, a role that came with many social and political expectations. A classy woman and a self-confessed snappy dresser, Pat was gracious and kind to all she met. Her volunteer projects included working with Lady Bird Johnson to beautify Austin's Town Lake, participating on the committee to establish the Blanton Art Museum, and for 30 years volunteering as a reader for Recording for the Blind. During this time it was not unusual to find Pat hosting 50-100 people in her university home, while still finding time to make peanut butter sandwiches for the visiting raccoons at the back door.

Steve passed away in 1990, and Pat continued her active engagement in her community. She was very involved in the Faculty Wives club, LAMP (Learning Activities for Mature People), and continued her work at Recording for the Blind. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Pat and her dear friend, Cecil Hale, continued to travel (although a bit closer to home) and enjoy family, many social activities, and Lady Longhorn sports teams.

After a long run in Austin, in 2014 Pat made the big decision to move to Bozeman, Montana, to live close to her son Dan and being able to watch her great-grandchildren grow up. She said that she would meet the challenges of the move and start life over by being friendly to all those she met, and by always saying yes to invitations, opportunities, and new experiences. Pat fell in love with the big skies of Montana. As she said many times toward the end of her life, "I was a very lucky woman."

Pat is survived by her son Dan (Andra), daughter Jean (Dorit), grandchildren Adria Spurr Pope and Stephen Anders Spurr, great grandchildren Oliver Pope and Isabel Pope, and longtime friend Margaret Spurr. She was preceded in death by her husband Stephen Hopkins Spurr, and grandson Peter Josiah Spurr. The family also would like to thank the amazing staff at Birchwood Assisted Living for their loving care of Pat during her four years' residence.

In lieu of flowers donations may be made to Montana Raptor Conservation Center (montanaraptor.org).

Pat was a gentle soul with a strong will, who always looked on the bright side of life. Her family would like to share her favorite poem as a gift to those who have touched her life:

Look to this day

For it is life, the very life of life.

In its brief course

Lie all the verities and realities of your existence.

The bliss of growth

The glory of action

The splendour of achievement.

Are but experiences of time.

For yesterday is but a dream,

And tomorrow is only a vision

And today, well lived, makes

Yesterday a dream of happiness

And every tomorrow a vision of hope.

Look well therefore to this day;

Such is the salutation to the ever-new dawn!

-Kalidasa.