PATRICIA DAWN SMITH

Adjust Text Size: A+ A-

PATRICIA DAWN SMITH

(née GIRLING)

August 31, 1951 - February 17, 2024

Patricia (Patti) Dawn Smith (née Girling) passed quietly in her sleep on February 17th in Ottawa. A Winnipeg native, she also was the city's first female letter carrier.

Wild and free in nature, Patti skipped school on August 18, 1964, to join throngs of young girls hoping to catch the eye of the Beatles, who were landing in Winnipeg for 30 minutes to refuel. Her parents might have been none the wiser, save the fact that she appeared prominently on CTV - holding a jar of pickles, her food of choice both then and now. In fact, she loved pickles so much that she was known to pickle anything - carrots, bananas and more. Her interest in food preservation might have derived from the fact that she was so gregarious during meals that she'd be eating long after everyone else had cleared their plates.

Beauty and brains, Patti graduated in Economics at the University of Manitoba - paying for her tuition through the letter carrier job. Always a fashion plate, in the 1980s she ran the Ottawa branch of Fashion Party Inc. which brought fashion shows to businesses and homes. In the 1990s, she began working with the elderly through ParaMed home health care services.

Patti died on the same date 48 years later as her maternal grandmother Stella Pollexfen, one of the founding members of the Bahá'í House of Worship in Winnipeg. She will be buried with her in the family plot in Brookside Cemetery, Winnipeg. Patti leaves behind her husband Roy; mother Ruth; daughter Reagan; siblings, Jeff, Steve, Jill and Chris.

Rest in peace Patti,

your dash was more like a lightning bolt.

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Mar 02, 2024, Mar 02, 2024