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Patricia Johnson Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers on Feb. 9, 2014.

Patricia Murphy Fernandez Johnson

November 27, 1934 – February 7, 2014

Patricia Murphy Fernandez Johnson passed away on February 7, 2014 after a brave battle against Multiple Myeloma. Patricia was a native of Battle Creek, Michigan and long-time resident of New Orleans. She was preceded in death by her first husband, Rolando Fernandez, and is the beloved mother of three children: Alexander Fernandez Johnson (wife, Kathryn Stroupe) of Los Angeles, CA; Kore Alexis (partner, Dr. Maureen A. Riddle) of Truro, MA and New Orleans; Claire Louise Johnson (partner, Dhari Gray) of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and of one grandchild: Max Johnson of Los Angeles, CA.
Pat graduated from the University of Michigan in 1958 and promptly flew to Ibiza, Spain where she worked, traveled, and mastered the Spanish language. In the 1960s, she worked in Miami, Florida as an interpreter for the Cuban Refugee Program, where she met her first husband, Rolando Fernandez. After living in Latin America for years, Pat returned to the United States and chose New Orleans as her new home because she had "the best meal of my life" in the city. Pat earned her Masters of Social Work at Tulane University and worked in private practice, for the New Orleans School Board, and later at Chartres Mental Health.
During a trip to Jamaica in the 1980s, Pat fell in love with a house perched over the Caribbean Sea in a small community on the southwest shore named Bluefields. She relocated to Jamaica and had the happiest five years of her life swimming in the ocean, bird watching, reading voraciously on her veranda overlooking the sea, and romping through the bush with her beloved and giant dog, Molly.
Pat traveled the world, usually alone, to places in the 1950s and 1960s that women rarely dared to go, she loved the theater, played a mean hand of bridge, cooked every cuisine in the world (and very, very well), taught her children how to do the tango while vacuuming the house, how to live well in a difficult world, and was the greatest traveling companion anyone could ever hope for. So, Pat, our favorite misanthrope, your friends and children raise a toast to you for so bravely battling this treacherous cancer with such panache (martini and cigarette always in hand!) and we know that you are now sitting on the veranda of your beloved Oristano House, Molly by your side, watching the birds glide over the beautiful blue-green ocean of Bluefields. We miss you already.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. To view and sign the Family Guestbook, please visit www.schoencanalstreet.com. Memorial private.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

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December 31, 2014

Kore Alexis

Love you, Mom. Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas. Kore

November 27, 2014

Claire & Dhari

Happy Birthday, Pat. We love and miss you.

August 16, 2014

William ("Bill") Ktsanes

Alex, Kore and Claire -
I'm so sorry for your loss. I remember your mom very well - and very fondly. I suppose it's not uncommon for kids to look at their friends families and make comparisons. In our Lusher days, I remember being jealous that Danny Keiffer had so many brothers and thinking Alex and Kore had a really cool mom. Through the Tulane social work/sociology connection, she was also a good friend to my parents.
What an adventurous, inspiringly life she lived!

May 22, 2014

Charlotte Seidenberg

Claire, Alex, Kore -- Jean & I just found out & are so sorry. I have been thinking about calling Pat to catch up since we moved to the Northshore. Too late now. I will always remember the first time I met Pat -- we visited on your front steps on Constance Street. Claire was a baby in Pat's arms & Dara in mine. Alex & Kore (& my David) were cute little kids. Those were the good old days. Time flies. All our love to y'all. Charlotte Seidenberg

March 16, 2014

Shirley

Just read of Pat's passing-a fascinating, interesting and intelligent lady I had the privilege of knowing. Peace to her family and thank you for sharing your stories.

March 11, 2014

C Johnson

Posted by C Johnson

March 6, 2014

C Romero

I'm glad I got to meet Pat when I visited NOLA a couple of times with Claire. My deepest sympathies go out to my friend Claire and her family.

February 26, 2014

Deb & Ron Payne

Claire, I know you & your family will miss your Mom so very much. Hold Your memories of her always in your heart. You will reach for the phone to give her an update about something & suddenly remember. At times like that write a note in a journal to her & she will hear you. I only knew her from talking on the phone with her, but I learned she had a great laugh! Thinking of you & your family!

February 24, 2014

Dhari Gray

My perspective is probably different from most. Pat was an incredibly fascinating and courageous person. My partner of 20 years is Claire, the daughter of the over two-decade marriage of Pat to Dr Richard L Johnson who is still living. Pat endured a lot in her childhood and her adult life but she always did it her way. She was her own full self even as a young adult. She enjoyed recounting the tale of sneaking into her school offices to find college applications to create her own opportunities instead of what the Nuns expected. After college she soon left the country and followed an independent path across Spain and South America while her generation became hippies and veterans. Her first marriage to Rolando Fernandez brought us the blessings of Alex and Kore. Pat was a mother with her young son and her daughter on the way when she went out on her own yet again, returning to the States. Years later while raising Alex and Kore in New Orleans, she met and married Dick. He adopted Alex and Kore and when Claire came along they raised her to know them as full siblings. Since half-sister/brother was not in her vocabulary, it would be many years before she understood they had a different father and childhood from her own. Pat often reminisced about her many travel adventures with Dick like when they stood in line for hours in the USSR for what she didn't even know until they got to the front. When Alex and Kore were in college in the 80's Pat, Dick and Claire moved to Jamaica. Pat taught swimming and Spanish. They welcomed lords and ladies for a New Orleans style brunch on the deck of their Oristano home overlooking Bluefields Bay. While they have their share of good memories from their time on the island, most people cannot fathom their lives there. Regardless of the illnesses, hurricanes, hardships and near deaths, at least they were in a gorgeous place for those island life experiences. Wherever Pat is she's probably with her favorite old dogs; Maggie her Catahoula Hound and especially, Molly the Rottweiler and German Shepherd mix who existed on lobster shells and cornmeal and was supposedly the happiest, healthiest, longest-living dog ever, but had to be smuggled off the island because of the bounty on her head for her and her pups wreaking havoc. Claire didn't know it at the time but she was lucky to have been pulled out of NOLA for those important teen years and given another view on the world and who she could be in it. In the early 90's once Claire went to college and Pat was finally living on her own again, Pat devoted herself even more to living her life exactly as she wanted. Pat was very well-read especially when it came to her favorite subjects like history. She prided herself on regularly reading newspapers from all over the world and all perspectives. She was a social worker and later had a few other jobs such as the one she held at a local video store where she made friends whom she invited over for tea and parties and “squeezed them all in" to her charming home. She enjoyed bridge with her friends, and was patient teaching me when I didn't know the game. Pat would describe herself as an Actress and was in many plays in Claire's early life. She told stories of her and our good family friend, Faye Prince, being in “Our Town” and “Spilt Milk” and several others. Pat lit up when talking about the stage and she carried that acting bug and dramatic flair with her to the very end. She tried to instill her love of travel in her children and made a point to travel with each of them individually. She visited us in L.A. and even more so when we moved to Santa Fe. I will cherish those memories most. Unfortunately, as is the story with many New Orleanians, Katrina and the relentless aftermath changed her forever, but she made the decision to go back to "be a swamp lady" and when given chances to leave she always stayed. From my perspective, New Orleans was her forever home and the love of her life. She didn't travel much after that so we started traveling to her city more often. In these last 8 1/2 years, we have had dozens of visits with her. Pat was hilarious, constantly cracking me up as do each of her children. We were wary of each other at first although we quickly became grateful for each other. There was always part of me waiting for how she had infamously behaved towards others, especially when she lived with us for well over a month in a crowded little house, but we did make it through our entire relationship retaining our respect for one another. We had an interesting relationship over these past 20 years, and while it became strained more than a few times and we had our ups and downs, we somehow always honored each other. I hold in my heart countless hours of her stories and her family history and I am thankful for that. I'm glad to have known her and therefore, understood her fairly well. I am comforted that Claire has Pat's intellect and dark humor and love of cooking and travel. Those things will live on in her. When we said our final goodbyes last July, she admitted she loved and trusted me and that she had always been glad that Claire had me in her life. She also said even with the health struggles and Katrina and all she had been through in the last years of her life that the second half of her life was so much happier than the first and that she did indeed have a “great” life. Pat found her own way to happiness. She and I came to like and love each other and I feel fortunate to say that. She was more than my Mother-Against-The-Law as Claire put it. She was my friend and I will really miss her. With Love, Dhari

Posted by Dhari Gray

February 18, 2014

Karin C. (Virre) Davidson

Kore, Alex, Claire - Loved your mother's laugh, her vision and determination, even her cooking (some of my first red beans and rice!). I can see her with cigarette and drink in hand, making a point, usually intense and political. She was something! All my best to you all.

February 18, 2014

alex johnson

Never far from thought. In the beginning or the end and certainly not in between. As the earth 'moves' so shall we...

Posted by alex johnson

February 16, 2014

Sincere condolences to Kore, Alex and Claire, with fond remembrances of the hostess with the mostest.
Mary Virre

February 15, 2014

My sincere condolence to the Johnson Family. May the God of all comfort sustain you as you cope with the loss of your loved one.
-Catherine

February 13, 2014

Kore Alexis

Love you, Mom! Know you are at peace now but miss our laughs and searching for a post-chemo hamburger. Who's going to give me the international news update? Oh, I know you secretly loved the rabbit! I'll keep the happy times in my heart.

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