In Memory of Phyllis Patterson

September 18, 1928 to October 24, 2023

 Phyllis Patterson was a legend in STEM in her own right, constricted by society but stubbornly opening doors for women in equity and STEM wherever she was able. Born in 1928, the history she witnessed and the advancement of women over her 95 years must have been astounding. Though certainly internally grateful, our mom was stoic on the outside, and every positive stride made for women she responded with expectation rather than surprise.  

     Phyllis, as we lovingly called her interchangeably with Mom, wanted to be a pilot when she was a young girl, but her mother met her with a resounding NO. She then wanted to go into medicine, she wanted to be a doctor. Stereotypical 1950’s female roles met her with a resounding NO. She followed the traditional (and more difficult) task of raising a brood of children, all the while teaching first secondary math, then landed on becoming a legendary 5th grade teacher in Evanston, Wyoming.

    Phyllis was a game-changing math teacher. She gave her students a lifelong gift of remarkable math skills. Some went on to excel in STEM fields: becoming doctors, surgeons, engineers, and much more. Her students with less math aptitude gained a stronger grasp of math concepts and problem-solving. I would challenge anyone today, from Mrs. Patterson’s math class, to not remember MDAS (the order of operations for equations). MY-DEAR-AUNT-SALLY – multiplication, division, addition and subtraction. 

Every Friday, she played a game of mental math with us. Pencils down, desks cleared of any paper. Nary an eye was torn away from the screen at the front of the room as she sat down next to her projector, turned it on, lined up a piece of clear plastic paper, and prepared her colored markers. Quietly we would sit at our desks as she wrote out math problem after math problem. Undoubtedly these were off the top of her head. Questions progressively became harder over the course of the game; first addition problems, then the rest of the operations, ending with algebraic equations. We were not allowed to write anything, all computation had to be done without any utensiled support. First one with the answer right (and had to be called on – no shouting out of answers – any teacher today would admire her classroom management) got to pick out a treat from her treat box. To this day, I can rival my mechanical engineer husband and my mechanical and electrical engineer sons in mental math games. All have made it through differential equations and linear algebra; I did not get past Algebra II. But my computational skills, thanks to my mother, are hard to beat. 

Phyllis led by quiet example, paving the road for her daughters, daughters-in-law, and female teachers years her junior to self-advocate and fully pursue their goals, whatever the hurdle. She was a huge proponent of women in education, and at the time of her passing was approaching 70 years of championing advancement of women through scholarships and other means of educational support through the respected philanthropic organization, PEO.

It is because of this original chingona (that’s Spanish – look it up!) that I leapt from human services to mechanical engineering in the early 2000’s. When I was pursuing my undergrad at Colorado State University, the engineering department was a vast wasteland on the other side of campus; I spent my days on the ‘girl’ side – education, social work, and my degree – Human Development and Family Studies. The engineering side was the ‘boy’ side. Because of the trepidation of my mother and my older female siblings – and their quiet suffering that lead to opening doors for younger females - I embraced the ‘boy’ side, engineering, and am grateful for every day I get to design another mechanical system for a building. 

As mentioned above, Phyllis was a huge philanthropist – in 1989 for my parents’ wedding anniversary, in lieu of gifts they asked from us kids to volunteer 40 hours that year. (Phyllis herself volunteered to work with kids at a local elementary school well into her eighties). We all give to our communities, in one way or another. Her passion for philanthropy lives through each one of us. 

With my inherited love of STEM and philanthropy, I started The Quarter Project in the spring of 2015. The mission of The Quarter Project is to promote girls from marginalized populations in STEM academics and careers. With my mom as my inspiration, I created this organization to champion every little girl in math and science – we do not allow the words “I am not good at math” in any one of our classes. I wish I could share with you all the look of surprise when our girls are admonished for not believing in themselves. Phyllis would not have tolerated it, not by a long shot. Their faces shine when we champion their successes. Her passion is reflected in their smiles… her trail-blazing self-efficacy in STEM will live on through these girls. I’d like to sign off with a huge thank you to you, Mom. You are our inspiration, we admire your tenacity and brilliance,  and we are beyond grateful for the gifts you shared with us to continue on with younger generations. Thank you for every effort you made during your lifetime to make it better for us. Good-bye, Mama…we will miss you.