Patricia L. Forden, 84, of St. Michaels, Maryland, passed away on May 31, 2017, in Washington, D.C. after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born on March 6, 1933, in Moss, Mississippi, to Clarence Smith and Mittie Lou Smith, Tricia lived in Mississippi and Georgia before moving to Fort Pierce, Florida, at the age of 13. In 1951, after graduating from Fort Pierce High School, Tricia enrolled at the University of Florida-Gainesville, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood and elementary education in 1955. Tricia taught in schools in Florida, Georgia and Wisconsin. She was also employed for several years as a medical secretary at both the Duke University and University of Florida medical schools.
Tricia met her husband, Larry Forden, a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, in Biloxi, Mississippi. After marrying, they lived in Massachusetts and Illinois before moving to Wisconsin in the early 1970s, raising a son and daughter in Bowler. Larry died in 2007. She returned to Fort Pierce for a few years before moving to St. Michaels on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in 2013 to be near her son.
Tricia enjoyed literature and the arts, music, travel, antiques and interior design, and her beloved dogs and cats. She also had a passionate interest in genealogy, a pastime that ultimately led to her admission to the Daughters of the American Revolution; her family research also revealed that several of her ancestors arrived in the colonies and Virginia and Maryland in the 1640s.
Tricia was also a devoted writer. In addition to authoring several short stories, she published “Dusty Roads and Thistles” in 2008, a semi-autobiographical novel about life in Mississippi in the 1950s. She also participated in theater, both as a patron and an actress.
Tricia was devoted to her family and friends, and was a faithful member of the Shawano Presbyterian Church for more than 20 years. After moving back to Fort Pierce, she joined the Episcopal Church and was a member of congregations in both Fort Pierce and St. Michaels.
She was preceded in death by her parents and infant sisters, Joyce and Elizabeth Smith; an older sister, Mary Catherine Smith, died in a car accident in 1962. Survivors include a son, Eric Forden; a daughter, Britt Forden Echeverri; and two granddaughters, Holly and Heather.
The funeral was held on June 7, 2017, in Fort Pierce, with the Rev. Reid McCormick of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church officiating. Tricia is interred at Riverview Memorial Park in Fort Pierce.