Patricia Ellen Furst
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PATRICIA ELLEN FORD FURST
April 4, 1928 - March 10, 2022
Patricia Ellen Ford Furst passed away Thursday, March 10, 2022 at the age of 93 surrounded by loved ones. She was born to William Joseph Ford & Hellen Clair Mclaughlin on April 4, 1928 in Arlington, Mass. Pat attended Lasell junior college - now Lasell University in Auburndale MA. She met her husband to be Dr. William "Bill"Dutton Rush Furst in Boston while he was finishing his Pediatrics residency. They married July 17, 1954. After honeymooning in Nantucket the east-coasters packed up their car and headed to what they pictured to be the wild west: the Texas oil boomtown of Odessa for the adventure of their lifetimes. They joined his Duke Medical School classmate Dr. Loui Zang in his burgeoning pediatric practice in Odessa, TX and planted roots that lasted over 40 years, shepherding generations of new mothers with new babies, including their own 5 children.
Pat remembered having to draw the curtains tight at night because of all the flaring gas wells in town. A town with 2 stoplights, occasional wandering livestock and tumbleweeds was quite different than what she'd known on the East Coast. Though she made a few attempts to escape back to civilized Boston she had made too many lifelong friends among the other young couples and became an integral part of the fabric and pioneer spirit that built a west TX oil roughneck boomtown town into a city. Pat was a natural leader with uncommon common sense, wit and humor. She was called on to be the president of the Odessa Junior League and president of the Crystal Ball, and later the Stratford Condo Assoc. Early vacations were spent back East at the beach of Cape Cod. Later they joined their close friends, the Bergers, vacationing in the mountains above Montezuma, NM where they eventually bought and built their own treasured summer cabin, "Camelot" by the Gallinas "River" where their children and eventually grand and great grandchildren grew to love those beautiful mountains sparking lifelong loves for the wilderness outdoors.
After Bill's retiring in about 1990 they left west TX for the 2nd great adventure by moving to San Antonio to be closer to their children Ellen, Biff, Ned, and grandchildren. With their youngest son in medical school and youngest daughter, Trisha Ft. Worth school teacher, it didn't appear anyone would be coming back to Odessa, which turned out to be wrong. But nonetheless Pat and Bill had already pulled Up stakes and made many new friends in their new Alamo City home.
Pat had a deep and loving faith and was a devout member of St. Anthony de Padua church. She also volunteered as a Blue Bird at the Methodist Hospital with her new friend Dorothy Watson where the job of giving newborns their first baths naturally suited her warm nature. She shared so generously one was wise to be careful with compliments lest she might hand over whatever it was right then and there.
She is preceded in death by her parents and younger brother Edmund J. Ford of Boston and her husband Dr. William Dutton Rush Furst. She is survived by her sister Jacqueline Ford Hill of Plymouth, MA, her children Ellen Sealy (Ed), Dr. William F. "Biff" Furst, Drs. Edward D. (Bari), Dr. Matthew Furst (Suzette), and Patricia "Trish" Furst, her 12 grandchildren Martita Hunt (Josh), Matthew Sealy (Catherine), Mallory Moorman (Johnny), Hutch Sealy, Kate Sneed (Will), Ella Furst, Meredith Horacek (Sean), Caroline Furst, William Furst, Maggie Hargrove (Logan), Emily Furst, Abigail Furst, and 10 great grandchildren. The family would also like to thank her tireless loving caregivers Norma Ramos, Lorena Ramirez, Raquel Sanchez and Avionn Homecare. A special thanks to Edna Martinez for her many years of love and service.
Pat will be interred with her husband at the Episcopal Diocess columbarium at a private service. Memorials to St. Anthony de Padua Church in San Antonio or the Childrens Miracle Network at the Odessa Medical Center Hospital.
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