Patricia Ann Jorgensen's Obituary
Patricia Ann Jorgensen, a resident at the Utah State Veteran’s Affairs Nursing Home, passed away on November 24, 2014 at the age of 83. She is survived by her daughter, Janne Jorgensen Wilson (Wade) of West Harrison, New York, and three grandchildren, Jack and Paul, also of West Harrison, and Elizabeth Rees-Jones (Alex) of Philadelphia. She is also survived by a brother, Robert Battersby of Norristown, PA, and a sister, Joan Jeter of Kilauea, HI. She is preceded in death by her husband of 55 years, Paul Gifford Jorgensen, who died in 2008.
Pat was born August 9, 1931, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Albert Battersby and Edith Welsh. She was one of 13 children: ten girls and three boys. She and many of her siblings spent summers at her eldest sister’s home in Chesapeake City, MD, a place they treasured throughout their lives. Pat and Paul will be interred there together at the Bethel Cemetery, the final resting place for many of Pat’s relatives.
Pat left high school after the 11th grade and moved to Virginia to help care for her nieces while her sister was ill which is where she met Paul, a Marine stationed at Quantico. They were married a short time later and moved to California, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, and then back to Virginia with his military career. He completed two deployments to Okinawa, one while Pat raised their daughter Janne. In 1972, the family moved to Bountiful, Utah to be near Paul’s mother, Inez Gifford Jorgensen. They lived there until 2008, when both Paul and Pat moved to the VA Nursing Home.
Pat worked at different times as a telephone operator and a sales associate at Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), a department store in Salt Lake City, but her greatest work and joy was in her daughter and grandchildren. Pat was famous among those who knew her for her meticulously organized home, her penchant for fudge and chocolate chip cookies, and her sweet sense of humor. Among her greatest gifts was the ability to make lifelong friends wherever she went. She and Paul took their grandchildren camping every summer and loved taking road trips together throughout the West.
Pat will be remembered at a memorial service and breakfast on December 16th at 10 a.m. at the Chesapeake Inn on 605 2nd Street in Chesapeake City, MD. Pat and Paul will be interred immediately afterwards at the Bethel Cemetery located at 312 Bethel Cemetary Road, also in Chesapeake City.
A memorial service will also be held at the Utah State Veteran’s Nursing Home on 700 Foothill Boulevard in Salt Lake City on December 27th at 2 p.m. A light dinner will follow. She was loved and well cared for by the staff at the nursing home and will be missed by all who knew her.
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