Patricia Clevenger

1945 - 2020

Patricia Gates (Winder) Clevenger

Jun 15, 1945 - May 5, 2020

Patricia Gates (Winder) Clevenger, 74, passed away on May 5th at her home in San Francisco after a 4 year battle with metastatic melanoma.

"Trisha" was born on June 15, 1945 to Norman and Gertrude Gates. She was raised in the small town of Haddonfield, New Jersey where she graduated from high school in 1963. She attended the University of Delaware and received a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing in 1967.

After graduation from U of Delaware, Trisha began her career in healthcare and nursing as a Neonatal Intensive Care nurse at the Children's Hospital in Philadelphia, PA. In 1972 she moved to California and over the years held a number of nursing positions in various organizations in San Francisco including the Native American Health Center, Juvenile Hall, San Francisco General Hospital, and University of California San Francisco Parnassus Campus. She also spent a year on the reservation of the Winnebago Tribe in Nebraska in the 1970's. She continued her education by earning her Master's Degree in Health Education at San Francisco State University by attending night school while holding a full-time nursing job.

A significant part of Trisha's nursing career were the 20 years she spent at San Francisco General Hospital. She eventually became the Nurse Manager at the Adult Medical Center, where she trained and mentored many nurses as they began their careers in nursing. She also worked side-by-side and assisted in training numerous medical students and new resident doctors. After her work experience at SF General Hospital, Trisha moved on and accepted a research position at the University of California. Her work was focused on childhood asthma and adult heart patient recovery. After 12 years at University of California, Trisha retired to enjoy her main hobby of gardening, traveling the world and going to sporting events around the Bay Area, especially Giants baseball and Stanford football.

Trisha loved music and sang soprano as a member of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir for many years. She was also a life-long runner and jogger. She completed the rigorous San Francisco Marathon in 1985, as well as achieving a personal goal of completing the San Francisco Half Marathon when she was 60 years old.

Trisha is survived by her husband, William John Clevenger of San Francisco, one daughter (Jerre), two grandsons (Walker and Sawyer) and son-in-law (Eric) of Murphys, CA. She is also survived by her sister, Marilyn of Ponte Vedra, FL, and her brother, Norman, of Valley Springs, CA.

Her family is planning to have a Celebration of Life in San Francisco after the restrictions are lifted for COVID-19. If you are interested in attending the celebration, please send an email address to jerrewinder@gmail.com to be notified when the event is scheduled. Also, if you wish to make a donation in Trisha's honor, the family requests that you make it to the charity of your choice.