Patricia Ann Edwards

She fooled her folks, the doc and all And ushered in the market fall. . . Patricia Schellhous Edwards, who did indeed surprise her parents with her early arrival on April 1, 1928, passed away peacefully at her home in Chico, California on April 14, 2020 after suffering a stroke in late January, 2020. Her daughter, Carol Edwards DiGiovanni, who had lovingly cared for her as she struggled to recover, was by her side. Pat was born in a tiny house in the midst of an orange grove on the corner of Newport Boulevard and Red Hill Avenue in Tustin, something her children never tired of pointing out until it was torn down, along with the orange trees, to make way for office buildings in the 1960s. Her family—parents Arcy and Mary Schellhous, grandmother Minerva Bonney, and older brother Roger—later moved to a house on Newport Avenue not far from the Utt Juice Company that Arcy owned and operated. The big factory on Prospect Avenue was an early playground, where she played hide-and-seek among the five-gallon juice bottles, watched the workers stir bubbling brews of jam in huge stainless steel cauldrons, and charmed them all with her vivacity and sweet nature. Pat loved school and she loved her teachers. She truly came into her own as a student at Tustin High, where she threw herself into school life with what was by now her characteristic zeal. She joined the THS marching band as a percussionist, which required a special assist from aclassmate to keep the five-foot tall, 95-pound drummer from tripping over her bass. She and a friend teamed up to cheer on the football team as songleaders. Pat's great passion was theater, and, under the mentorship of her beloved drama teacher, May Rose Borum, she shined in a number of school productions, photos of which are still on display at the Tustin Area Historical Society Museum. Occidental College was her next destination, where she initially studied speech communication, and later prepared to be an elementary school teacher. There she met and married Richard Remmen, a union that produced three children, Steven, Karl, and Janette. When their marriage ended in 1955, Pat found herself in the daunting position of single mother, but shecarried on working and raising her children with the help of Arcy and Mary. Enduring love camesoon after when she was introduced to James D. (J.D.) Edwards, a young CPA from Santa Ana whom she wed in 1957. When in 1959 Pat gave birth to their daughter, Carol, the family of six was complete.While J.D. worked to grow his accounting firm, R.C. Edwards & Co., Pat stayed home tocare for the family. Her years as housewife, nurse, den mother, and party planner were briefly interrupted in 1964 when she stepped in for a semester as a substitute third grade teacher at Tustin Memorial Elementary School. She resumed her homemaker's role until the pull of deferred ambition eventually landed her in the newly-established Master's program in Speech Pathology at California State University, Fullerton. When she graduated in 1970, she became oneof the first Master's-level speech pathologists in California, and part of a force of new clinicians whose reach and effectiveness in treating communicative disorders was dramatically expanded.Pat's most meaningful professional years were spent at the Newport Speech, Language, and Audiology Center headed by Elizabeth Wallace. She provided evaluation and therapy for speech-impaired and autistic children and stroke-afflicted adults with aphasia. As always, she flourished in the company of her colleagues from whom she learned a great deal, and to whom she offered her sharp clinical skills and flawless professionalism. She was eventually recruited by Dr. Bruce Porch, developer of the Porch Index of Communicative Ability in Children (PICAC), to travel about the country as a workshop trainer, a testament to the notoriously particular Dr. Porch's regard for her.Pat and J.D. had long enjoyed a life rich with friends and shared experiences, and as their careers wound down, they picked up new hobbies (J.D. became a master woodworker, and Pat an expert seamstress) and traveled when they could. Pat was an especially keen traveler, and visited Greece several times to see daughter Jan who lived Athens, picking up enough Greek to dazzle the locals. She and J.D. continued to delight in the company of their growing brood of grandchildren, and finally left Orange County for Chico in 2001 to be closer to Carol and her three young children.For the rest of her life, Pat referred to Tustin as "home," but she transitioned happily to life in Chico. She joined Chapter DS of the PEO sisterhood, sang with the University Choir and the Bidwell Presbyterian Chancel Choir, took up tap dancing and Pilates, played tennis, hosted her bridge club, practiced piano on her beloved Steinway baby grand, and read all 54 volumes of The Great Books of the Western World. She spent a lot of time tending her garden, prompting heramused neighbors to remark upon her head of shiny white hair bobbing among the plants. Aboveall, she and J.D. loved their family gatherings, and "Granny and Papa" were adored in return.Not long after their fiftieth wedding anniversary in 2007, J.D. passed away following a brief but intense battle with pancreatic cancer. Pat wondered aloud how she would carry on without her husband, but knew she could do what so many women had done before her. She never slowed down; if anything, she picked up the pace, nurturing her loved ones and maintaining a welcoming home for old friends and new. When Carol opened her house for a standing-room-only celebration of her mother's 90th birthday, it was clear once more that Pat hadmade her mark. "It seemed as if nothing was too difficult, too messy, or too scary to do," remembered a friend, and the consensus remained that no one had ever known anyone quite like her.Pat leaves behind a family who are forever grateful for her love and influence: children Steven Edwards of Thousand Palms, Karl Remmen of Hilo, Janette Edwards Cooney of Monterey, and Carol DiGiovanni of Chico; grandchildren Rebecca Thomas of Austin, Ryan Edwards of Maui, Sandra Griswold of Palm Desert, Maria DiGiovanni of Seattle, J.D. DiGiovanni of Brooklyn, Daniel DiGiovanni of San Francisco; and great-grandchildren Kayla Thomas and Ashley, Haley, Daniel, and Ryder Griswold. A Covid-delayed celebration of Pat's life will be held at Bidwell Presbyterian Church, 208 W. First Street in Chico, October 8, 2021 at2:00 PM.