Patsy Marie (Trask) Ross

Blessed with a long and healthy life, Patsy passed after a brief illness on October 2, 2021; just 16 days prior to her 91st birthday. Patsy was born October 18, 1930 in Bellfountain, Oregon, to Delmar Larkin and Rowena Redmond. Their family owned a small dairy farm, where Patsy and her brother shared in the chores of milking cows in morning and after returning home from school. She spent her elementary years in a rural one-room school house, and later attended Monroe High School.

In 1946, at the age of 16, Patsy married Toby Trask. Together they built a small home and barn on a couple of acres in Monroe, Oregon, and raised their growing family. They had four children — Tim, Suzanne, Shelby and Del. Patsy held several jobs, along with being a homemaker.

Raising a family in the Willamette Valley, it was common to work the fields during harvest season. She and her children picked produce together most summers. Patsy was also employed as a grocery clerk at K&D Market, and eventually retired as an aide for Monroe Elementary School. But, as she would always say, her favorite job was cleaning house on Wednesday evenings for her dear friends, Dave and Carole Hull. She usually did more visiting and joking around than cleaning, and they would either cook dinner for her, or invite her out with them. We can see why she favored that little side hustle. Dave and Carole were much more like family, and treated her accordingly.

Patsy loved sports and had a very competitive spirit. She played on several teams during her high school years. Eventually she joined a bowling team, and immediately excelled, proudly bowling a 300 game. She looked forward to her weekly games and the friendships they facilitated. If given a choice she would prefer watching a sports game on TV over anything else. She loved her football games and definitely had her favorites. Go Ducks!

Though she didn’t play often, when the mood struck she would sit down and hammer out a jazzy tune on the old piano. But just as fast as she sat down, she would jump back up, pretend to flip her short hair, and saunter away as sassy as could be. It always made us smile, which was exactly the reaction she was looking for.

Patsy enjoyed dancing and had a standing date with Toby every Saturday night at the Eagles in Corvallis. A Live band, many friends and a few cocktails, always made for a good time and great memories.

In 1993, after 47 years of marriage Patsy lost Toby. She was taken under the arms of friends and family, during one particular outing was introduced to a man named Frank Ross. In 1994, after a short courtship, Patsy and Frank were married. Frank was fun loving, and showed Pasty the carefree, retired side of life. She moved to his home in Vancouver, Washington and put her touches on it. She soon became close to her stepdaughter Cheryel, who welcomed her into their family with open arms. Patsy enjoyed this new chapter in life to the fullest. They would spend many weekends with friends at their beach lot on the coast. Visiting, clamming, having a glass of wine or three, and genuinely having a great time. Other weekends, she would strike out with friends on the search for garage sale treasures. She loved the hunt!

After a several years, Frank talked Patsy into moving to California to be closer to her family. But in reality, Frank had found out he was ill, and didn’t want to worry or burden her. They purchased a pretty home in Eureka and moved back lock, stock and barrel. Our family will always be grateful to Frank for this unselfish act. He truly loved and looked after her.

At home, Patsy took pride in her garden and kept an immaculate yard. She would even show off, mowing her lawn in a diagonal pattern to resemble the professional cut on a baseball field.

Patsy was always active and took care of her own lawn, and even bowled weekly well into her 80s. She could cook a meal from scratch better than most, and her homemade yeast rolls will be missed, and cannot be replicated by those of us left. Believe us, we’ve tried.

Patsy was preceded in death by her parents, her husbands Toby Trask and Frank Ross; brothers Jim and Marlin (Mike) Larkin; children, Tim Trask, Shelby Peters and Suzanne Kruger and grandson Scott Wagle. She is survived by her son Del Trask and wife Candice; son-in-law John Kruger; and stepdaughter Cheryel Ray (Terri);  sister-in-law Liz Larkin; nephews Daniel Larkin (Dianne) and Jeff Larkin and niece Jan Belarde (George); grandson Shane Wagle; granddaughters Lacey Jensen (Tyler) , Cortney Cole (Kyle) ; and great-grandson Waylon Cole. A special thanks to her neighbors Dan and Margie Flanagan, your kindness allowed for a few more years of independence.