Pamela Patterson Morford

Anyone’s life can be described in infinite ways, especially when it spans over nine decades.

Some people may be interested in the “what, when, where” of Pam’s life. Others who knew and loved her may be more drawn to thinking about who she was, how and why she lived as she did. We delve into some of these details below. Feel free to read as much or as little as you like.

First, we share some practical details about ways to celebrate Pamela’s life.

A Celebration of Life

A celebration of the life of Pamela Ruth Patterson Morford will be held on Saturday November 22 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church at 6050 N. Meridian Street in Indianapolis. The family will be available for visitation in the Lilly Room at St. Paul’s starting at 2 pm, and the service, in the sanctuary, will begin at 3 pm. All are welcome. The service will be livestreamed at: https://www.youtube.com/@StPaulsEpiscopalChurch/streams .

In lieu of flowers, donations in celebration of Pamela’s life may be made to:

• St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis
• St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis
• St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Lebanon
• Losey/Patterson Scholarship Fund (for international students at Purdue) at the First United Methodist Church West Lafayette
• Indianapolis Public Library Foundation or any library near you
• Habitat for Humanity – in Indianapolis or your local community
• Any musical ensemble or program that brings you joy
  
  

Biography

Pamela Ruth Patterson was born in Lafayette, Indiana in 1934. Known in her early years as “Pammy,” she was the daughter of Durland Holden (“Pat”) Patterson, Sr. and Mary Ashton Hollis Patterson, and the younger sister of Durland Holden (“Mike”) Patterson, Jr.

Pam and her brother Mike grew up in a family known for their love of music, languages, creativity, scouting, camping, church and community involvement, and hospitality towards international students and visitors. Her stories of childhood adventures were legend: riding bikes with Mike to tend the family’s “victory garden” along the Wabash River during World War II, enjoying multilingual marionette shows performed in their home by their parents and beloved Uncle O (Oscar Patterson), and surviving mishaps with musical instruments (when Mike’s cello inadvertently became a sled on a snowy sidewalk).

Pam received and developed her remarkable gifts for music, languages, creativity, learning and teaching, listening and sharing, loving and being loved, from her family and community, growing up in West Lafayette, where her father taught in the Department of Modern and Classical Languages at Purdue University, and her mother served as a leader in many Girl Scout and Methodist church groups. When Pam spent her junior year of college studying in Geneva, Switzerland, her father narrated on local radio a series of “letters from Pam,” recounting her adventures and explorations in Europe. She earned a B.A. in Biology from Hanover College in 1956, where she was awarded the Long Citation for the graduating senior who best exemplifies scholarship, leadership, character, world-mindedness, social skills and understanding, and the general quality of campus citizenship. Mary Hollis Patterson tragically died a few months after Pam’s college graduation, but Pam made sure her mother’s creativity and manifold gifts were real to family and friends who never had the privilege of knowing her.

After college, Pam taught high school biology and led youth groups in Sullivan, Indiana for two years. Encouraged by a pastor who had seen her work with youth, Pam then enrolled at the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in 1958, where she met Norman Lewis Morford, a fellow student. Norm, aware of the stiff competition for her attention, arranged for her roommate to slip notes into her pajama pocket in an effort to be the last person she thought of every night before falling asleep. The strategy was a great success, and Pam and Norm were married in Dallas on December 19, 1958 just months after they first met. Shortly thereafter, they moved to southern California for Norm’s first clergy appointment and he was ordained in the Methodist church.

Pam’s and Norm’s years in southern California were marked by the beginning of lifelong friendships and the births of their three children: Robert Horney (“Bob”), born in 1960, Janet Hollis (“Jan”) in 1961, and Jill Patterson in 1963. Pam deftly managed the demands of being spouse, minister’s wife, mother to three young children, daughter, sister, auntie, friend and neighbor to many, demonstrating calm, compassion, and über-competence in all circumstances. In 1964, she and Norm chose to return to their native Indiana, always saying that they missed the change of seasons, and wanted to be closer to family still living in Indiana, including Pam’s father and brother and his family, and Norm’s maternal grandparents. The Morfords lived for two years in Kokomo, Indiana, where Norm was the pastor of a Methodist church, and Pam memorably helped Bob and Jan build a snow horse after a blizzard and rescued toddler Jill when she walked off the end of a dock at a Methodist youth camp.

When Pam decided to go back to teaching, she earned master’s degrees in both biology and French at Ball State University (writing her master’s thesis about a marine fossil, the coelacanth, in French), and in 1966, began a long career as an educator with Washington Township Schools in suburban Indianapolis. As Norm moved from full-time ministry to working for the Indiana State Civil Rights Commission (and later, into insurance sales and community work), the family moved first to Westfield in Hamilton County, and then to their long-standing home on College Avenue.

The Morford family’s life in Indianapolis from 1967 through the early 1980s -- as Bob, Jan and Jill (aka “the kids”) were growing up -- was marked by the rhythms of school/work, church, time with extended family, and involvement in various community organizations: scouting, neighborhood associations and food cooperatives, the choirs at Christ Church Cathedral, among others. During these years, Norm was ordained and began to serve as a supply priest in the Episcopal Church, and Pam continued at Westlane Junior High/Middle School, teaching science, French, and exploratory world languages.

On evenings, weekends, school vacations, and summers, Pam was always engaged with “the kids,” providing help with school projects, Halloween costumes, outings to state parks, family camping and road trips, and creative endeavors of all kinds. On many summer days, she orchestrated trips to the public pool and rather than napping on the side, jumped in for underwater “tea parties” with Jill. She likewise dreamed up a creative pivot for Janet’s rained out birthday pool party, served as chauffeur for Bob’s fledgling “baking business,” and showed up for “the kids” in countless ways.

Pam made the world’s best yeast rolls and pies, deftly delegated tasks whenever anyone wandered into the kitchen, taught her children and others to be confident cooks (at home or around a campfire), and modeled curiosity and openness to unfamiliar cuisines (serving tacos, cheese fondue, and salade niçoise with panache). Although she demonstrated the same commitment and creativity in her career as an educator, she somehow managed her teaching responsibilities so that they never impinged on time with her children, spouse or extended family.

Pam and Norm ensured there were frequent gatherings with relatives on both sides. With her father’s remarriage to Roberta Losey, Pam and Mike and their families benefited from relationships with Roberta’s four children – Robbie, Mary, Doris and Jay – and their families. Pam’s dad, called “Beebaw” by the grandchildren, and Grandma Pat found creative ways to celebrate birthdays and “un-birthdays,” such as giving each grandchild a snowball (saved in the freezer) for a summer snowball fight among cousins. Pam continued to collect and memorialize stories of older family members, often adding to the series of family scrapbooks, creating children’s books, mending or repurposing family quilts, and finding other ways to make the past palpable and present.

In the late 1980s, with all three Morford “kids” off to college and beyond, Pam jumped at the opportunity to learn and teach Mandarin Chinese through a grant-funded project at Ball State University. Always the avid learner and intrepid traveler, Pam dove into this new chapter with open ears, eyes, and deep enthusiasm. She developed a whole new cohort of friends – teachers across Indiana – through this experience of several years (including two summers of overseas travel), and with them, worked to create curriculum and training to benefit other language teachers. Adding Mandarin to her repertoire at Westlane, Pam continued there as a beloved teacher, colleague and mentor until her retirement in 2000.

Pam’s retirement years were marked by more adventures, continued learning, and deepened friendships. For example, Pam befriended Inna, the mother of an immigrant family from the former Soviet Union, helped her learn English, and navigate an unfamiliar school system. While picking cherries with Inna and her son one day, Pam fell from the tree and hit her head, but quickly recovered and continued to enjoy other opportunities. She participated in choirs and choral ensembles (some with her brother, Mike), served briefly as an organ tuner’s apprentice, learned to spin and weave various fibers, taught spinning, weaving and GED math to women in prison, made countless beautiful wraps, scarves, and other gifts on her loom, helped build houses through Habitat for Humanity, served on the vestry and in the community garden at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, attended many other churches with Norm, and continued to use, read, and translate Mandarin with friends. Always an eager student, during the last year of her life, Pam began learning to read and write Arabic, modestly acknowledging that she wouldn’t learn to speak it.

Pam also traveled frequently, both with Norm by car and sometimes solo (by plane or train) to visit family and far-flung friends. She was welcome wherever she went, but Pam delighted especially in spending time with her children, grandchildren, and a small number of exceptionally close friends. As the “Morford kids” married and they and their partners were blessed with children (born from 1992 to 2005), Pam and Norm proved to be exemplary grandparents and parents-in-law: always loving and present, eager to talk and hear the latest news, grateful for phone and Zoom calls or visits in person. Pam’s creative skills found new purpose, as she crafted books, toys, audio tapes, keepsake boxes, and more, each item thoughtfully designed to engage and affirm their love for each child. Pam and Norm were endlessly delighted by their nine grandchildren, by the partners of the three children and the three grandchildren who have married, their grandchildren’s friends and significant others, and most recently, their first great-grandchild.

With their own children and grandchildren building lives in other parts of the country, Pam and Norm leaned even more deeply into their friendships with two younger families, those of Ron and Linda McKiernan-Allen (who bought a house a few doors down at Norm’s suggestion in 1983) and Britt Ritchie and Rob Frye (who moved to College Avenue in 2009). For decades, Pam and Norm provided the McKiernan-Allen kids a place to stop after school for a snack and a spare key and encouraged playdates with their grandchildren, whenever they were visiting. Britt’s and Rob’s son Henry grew up knowing Pam as a willing partner for playing with blocks, setting up a “magic tricks stand” at the end of the driveway, or practicing his violin and French. All of these relationships and activities mattered deeply to both Pam and Norm.

In time, health challenges made it harder for them to travel (although, to their peril, rarely was an inviting gravel road bypassed!). They began to stay closer to home, and with the Covid-19 pandemic, adapted to attending church services, weddings and graduation ceremonies online. After Norm suffered a fractured hip in 2022, and complications from an unplanned hernia operation in early 2025, Pam became his primary caregiver. His recovery in 2025 was particularly long, but Pam’s patience and resilience never waned. She continued to request books from the public library, to walk the two blocks several times a week to pick up or return books, and to enjoy the times when Norm read out loud to her or they listened to classical music. She also insisted on doing everything needed to keep them at home on College Avenue: shopping, cooking, cleaning, laundry, all driving and errands. Pam also continued to meet with friends, in person or online, and to delight in the presence and support of their close friends and neighbors, and of Bob, Janet, and Jill, and grandchildren, as they increased the frequency and duration of their visits to Indianapolis.

Pam was on her way to the post office on September 8, 2025, when she fell (unwitnessed) in the driveway and hit her head. Ever resilient, she managed to get herself up and back into the house, where Norm called for help. Linda McKiernan-Allen accompanied Pam to the E.R. at IU Methodist Hospital, while Ron stayed with Norm at 4418. Pam was admitted to the Neuro ICU with a traumatic brain injury. Janet arrived from Pittsburgh on September 9, and with Bob and Jill, at least one of the “kids” managed to be in Indy to advocate for Pam’s needs and to support Norm over the following weeks and months. Pam spent a month at IU Methodist, and then five weeks at a smaller, specialized hospital, Kindred North.

Pam was valiant in participating in physical and speech therapy, but her alertness and strength eventually waned. After a period of rapid decline, Janet was with her at Kindred on November 10. Pam was sleeping peacefully, lifted by prayer and surrounded by love, when she breathed her last. Within hours, Linda McKiernan-Allen, who had provided pastoral care throughout Pam’s final months, along with her husband Ron, joined Janet for a simple service of thanksgiving for Pam’s life during which her body was anointed.

The Morford family expresses its deep gratitude to the staff of both IU Methodist and Kindred North hospitals for their exceptional care of Pamela, and to the many friends, neighbors, colleagues, and faith communities who have supported her and all of us, during this time.