Patricia Goodrich Brown Specter

Patricia Goodrich Brown Specter
As we sit down to Thanksgiving this year, we remember my mother, Patricia Goodrich Brown Specter, who died two years ago this month, on Nov. 21, at age 87. Our family deeply miss her wit, energy, devotion to family, and joie de vivre. We keep her garden on Green Pond blooming in her memory. Here is the obituary that ran in the New York Times two years ago, which she wrote herself, in her imitable style:
"Adored wife of the late David Kenneth Specter, architect of the Galleria and National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows; beloved mother of Matthew Goodrich Specter (wife, Marjan Mashhadi, esq.) and Evan Rous Specter. Cherished grandmother of Leila Beatrix and Kiran Eliot, Luka and Katie. Bereaved sister of the late Ronald Goodrich Brown, jazz musician. Daughter of the late Hon. Matthew Brown of Boston (Brown, Rudnick) and the late Edna Goodrich Brown, frugal Yankee, docent, and Benefactor of the MFA. Born and very surely bred in Boston, she graduated from Wellesley and supported the Davis Museum there. A private art dealer for private collectors for 50 years, passionate about her family, art, literature, theater, her friends, and jewelry. She ignored Chanel's injunction to take one thing off before leaving the house. Her support of New York cultural institutions, especially theater and arts groups, was a priority. Fluent writer (of this obit, for example), she was known for her rapid wit, gallows humor, and swift puns. Frustrated actress and lounge singer. Late riser. Hair obsessor. The Green Pond dock was her spiritual home. Contributions in her memory may be sent to the cultural institution of your choice, but do it."