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WILHITE -- Patricia Wood Wilhite died December 30, 2004. She was 79. Born Patricia Calvert Wood in 1925, she was the daughter of Alice Calvert and Leo Wood of Charleroi, Pennsylvania. Patty Wood came to California in the 1930s with her parents, living in Beverly Hills and Riverside. She graduated from Riverside Polytechnic High School in 1943. Thereafter, Pat attended Scripps College and was soon married to Tom Morris of New Mexico. During the course of this turbulent and disastrous marriage, Patricia lived in various towns in Texas and New Mexico and bore four children, Gail, Curtis, Page, and Tom. Her second and third marriages were similarly tumultuous and short lived, taking Patricia and her children to Maryland, Florida, and eventually back to Southern California. In 1965, Pat married Dane Wilhite of San Clemente, CA, where she lived until 1971. Dane and Pat left San Clemente to make their homes sequentially in Coronado, Bonita, Borrego Springs, and Mission Viejo, CA; husband, Dane, died in 1984. Afterwards, Pat became a business partner with her daughter, Gail. Together they operated a kitchen boutique in Buena Park and several restaurants in Lake Gregory. In 1994, Patty moved to Hemet, CA where she lived independently until her death. Patty's journey was often restless and unsettled, glorious at times, but always interesting and lively. She finally found contentment and peace in her final years, accepting and enjoying a humble yet dignified life of autonomy - her charmingly irreverent and dark wit intact to the very end. Patricia died with remarkable courage and grace from complications related to metastatic breast cancer. She is survived by all four children, six grandchildren, and one great granddaughter. Memorial services are tentatively planned for Spring 2005. Patty wished that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent in her name to the Community Breast Health Project, 545 Bryant St., Palo Alto, CA 94301.
        Published on: Tue January 04, 2005