Patricia Stanton of Oakton died peacefully after a brief illness on July 23, 2026.

Pat and her twin brother Jim were born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on August 29, 1931, to Arthur and Edith Tyrrell. Though the family were of modest means, Pat and Jim had a happy childhood. Winters were spent ice skating in a makeshift rink made by flooding the backyard, and summers were spent camping at Highland Creek east of Toronto.

After graduating from high school, Pat worked as a secretary and bookkeeper. But she dreamed of going to Europe. In 1952, she and three friends took six months off work and went to live with Pat’s relatives in London, using that as a base to explore Great Britain and the continent.

Pat also dreamed of buying a car. After she bought a Volkswagen Beetle, she and her friends enjoyed taking road trips. It was on a trip to the Grey Rocks resort in Quebec that she met Tom Stanton, an engineer from Cleveland. They hit it off and wrote and visited each other that fall. When he was offered a job in California, he asked her to come with him. They were married July 11, 1959, in Sacramento.

Tom’s early career had him and Pat moving often. Daughter Cathy was born in 1960 while they were still in Sacramento, and Amy was born during a three-year stay in Clearwater, FL. By the time Margaret was born in 1970, Tom and Pat had settled in Vienna, in the only house they would ever own.

As a stay-at-home mom, Pat was involved in daughters’ lives and the neighborhood. A talented artist, she taught crafts as a counselor at Girl Scout Camp Crowell in Oakton. She discovered an interest in gardening and joined the Stonewall Manor Garden Club, going on to hold the post of treasurer for 40 years.

When the girls left home, Pat returned to the workplace as a medical records clerk for the Group Health and Kaiser Permanente HMOs. When Kaiser left Virginia, she was happy to return to full-time homemaking, spending her days gardening and tending to the house. When Tom retired, they enjoyed traveling; favorite destinations were the Canadian Rockies, the Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York, and Williamsburg, VA.

Pat was interested in people and loved conversation. But she was most comfortable at home, pursuing her hobbies, reading, or playing cards or board games with Tom or other family members. She was the heart of the family and she will be greatly missed.

Pat is predeceased by her parents, her brother, and Tom, to whom she was married for 57 years. She is survived by Cathy (Sprankle) and husband Jay of Raleigh, NC; Amy (Rothey) and husband Jim of Oakton; Margaret (Guryan) and husband Chris of Alexandria; and five grandchildren. Memorial donations may be made to WETA Classical radio.