Patricia Grace Garrett

Patricia Grace Garrett

February 17, 1953 - March 15, 2015

Patricia Grace Garrett died in her home in Greenville, NC on March 15, 2015. Her death came after a two-year struggle with a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer. She was a wonderfully complex person, so genuinely kind and caring that her perfectly timed twisted sense of humor was sometimes shocking. It has been said of Grace that she had the heart of a lion, the soul of a poet, the eye of an artist, the touch of a healer, and the mouth of a sailor. Grace was amazing.

Patricia Jean Doyle was born to George “Ed” Doyle and Audrey Wiberg Doyle in Moorhead, MN on February 17, 1953. The family later moved to an abandoned farmhouse near Audrey’s parents in northern Minnesota. The hard work on the farm and the small town life in Fosston were the backdrop to the childhood lives of Patricia and her six siblings. As the middle child, Patty was too young for the older bunch and too old for the younger bunch. Consequently, she discovered treehouses and books.

As she matured, she questioned her social prospects in Fosston. She knew if she stayed she’d be wearing a seed corn hat and a Legion Bingo shirt by graduation, and probably end up married to a pig farmer. Instead, Patricia became the first student in Minnesota to be admitted to college prior to finishing high school. She left Fosston in December of 1970 and attended Bemidji State College.

Her advisor said she could be either a teacher or a nurse, so, after a fruitless fight, she gave up her dream to be an architect and became an English major with graduate work in mathematics. She taught briefly in several small towns before she settled into where she was meant to be, the Red Lake Indian Reservation. She spent the rest of her career teaching Junior and Senior English, Creative Writing, Journalism, Public Speaking, and directing school plays, as well as sewing and quilting classes, her second passion.

On September 20, 1975 she married Dennis Grace. They had two sons – Cory Shawn Grace (4-12-77) and Timothy Joseph Grace (5-25-80).

Pat was a phenomenal teacher, and it was her students who, with affection and respect, called her simply by her last name, thus Patricia became Grace. Also during her teaching career, she earned two prestigious awards, the Christa McAuliffe Award in 1989 and in 2000 the Fulbright Memorial Fund Award. It was this honor that brought her on a life-changing trip to Japan. There she met the love of her life, a Montanan named Thom Garrett.

So began a life they would always describe as living with wild abandon. She divorced, quit teaching, sold her home and moved to Montana. She pieced together a living, mostly through quilting, and left briefly to work for the State of Washington, but the pull of Montana was too powerful. She and Thom returned and by February 2008 were owners of Ghost Rails Inn Bed and Breakfast in Alberton, MT. Living and working there were some of the best years of their lives and through it they met some of their best friends.

But then, on Christmas Eve of 2012, they lost their B&B in a fire. So in 2013 they moved to Greenville, NC, the home of Thom’s mother.

Grace’s history is just the tip of the iceberg. There was so much more to her than that. She was an extraordinary figure skater. She was a talented and prolific quilter. She raised the simple act of sewing a pair of mittens to an art form. She was fearless when it came to caring for her students, whether confronting an administrator or chasing a drug dealer out of the school. She was passionate about politics and social justice. She found humor in everything, especially herself. Above all, she was kind and loving.

In April of 2013, Grace was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer – triple negative, metaplastic. In an endless spiral of declining health, Grace maintained her indomitable optimism and infectious sense of humor through surgery, chemo, radiation, metastasis, rinse, repeat. She had constant pain and exhaustion, but was so in love with Thom and with life, she was preparing for more when the cancer finally took her. Grace died in her husband’s arms on March 15th, 2015.

Grace was preceded in death by maternal grandparents Tenus and Alicia Wiberg and paternal grandparents George and Borghilde Doyle. Also by her premature twin daughters, Kelly and Megan, who were born and died on July 27, 1972. Everyone has a secret, and this was Grace’s.

Grace is survived by her beloved husband Thom; parents Ed and Audrey Doyle; son Cory and grandson Dominic; son Tim, his wife Nicole, and granddaughters Nia and Aubrie; siblings Janet Stately (husband Chuck), Marilyn Behrens (husband Gary), Thomas Doyle (wife Judy), Jack Doyle (wife Christie), Mitchell Doyle (wife Lois), Kathryn Stillings (husband David); 8 nieces and 6 nephews.

There will be private celebrations of Grace’s life in Greenville, Missoula, and Bemidji.