Obituary for Peace Corps Writer Patricia Edmisten (Peru 1962-64)
I first became acquainted with Patricia in 2019, when she reached out to me in my capacity as President & CEO of National Peace Corps Association, for help recruiting returned Peace Corps Volunteers to serve with the Annunciation House hospitality center in El Paso, where her nephew, Mark Seitz, is the Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese. I was so compelled by her plea that I journeyed to El Paso and served the refugee community there for two weeks, as did dozens of other returned Peace Corps Volunteers.
Patricia also corresponded with John Coyne and Marian Beil, reviewing some books and posting her own books on Peace Corps Worldwide. She was a gifted writer, spiritualist, and kind humanitarian. She was a close friend to many people and will be greatly missed.
— Glenn
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Patricia S. Taylor Edmisten lived in Pensacola since 1977 when she joined the faculty of the University of West Florida. She is survived by her husband, Dr. Joe A. Edmisten; her son, Damian Taylor (Arianne); stepdaughters, Sharon Edmisten, Sarah Edmisten O’Toole (Sean), and Brook Edmisten; grandchildren, Sophia and Vincent Taylor; brother and sister-in-law, John and Lana Silke; nieces, Pamela Siedlemann and Jana Sanchez; fourteen step-grandchildren; cherished members of her extended North and South Carolina family, and by her precious women friends who enriched her life beyond telling.
She held B.S. and M.S. degrees from Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a doctorate from The University of Florida.
Patricia loved the community at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she worshiped with her husband. She had a life-long dedication to human rights and social justice that was reflected in her personal and professional lives, in the academic articles she published, and in the several books she authored. She was among the earliest Peace Corps volunteers, serving in Peru from 1962-1964, and worked as a United Nations consultant to women’s groups in Peru and Brazil. Months before the inception of the March, 2003 Iraq War, she and other like-minded individuals formed Pensacola Patriots for Peace that she had the honor of coordinating. The group held a silent anti- war vigil at the Rev. Martin Luther King Plaza every Friday for nearly six years.
She lived a full life, one not immune to personal sorrows but replete with great love and appreciation for her husband Joe, an ecological consultant with whom she traveled the world. Her greatest joy was spending time with her husband and family at “Montezuma’s Reward,” the family’s North Carolina mountain retreat. Patricia ran the good race and was not through running when she entered the next stage of her life.
A Memorial Mass will be held at St. Joseph Catholic Church Monday, December 16, 2024 at 11 a.m., with a gathering to follow in the Church Hall.
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