Gilford – Patricia Lee Morse Devitt Nix Ford, 82, died Friday, August 21, 2015 at her home on Dinsmoor Point Road in Gilford, NH.
Born Patricia Lee Morse in Manchester NH, March 16, 1933, the second daughter of Charles Henry Morse and Effie Elmira Blakney. Patricia grew up in Hooksett, NH, living in the Thompson Estate until it burned in 1935. The family moved to Manchester where her father owned the largest automobile dealership in New Hampshire. They lived on Merrimack Street where she began Kindergarten, then Maple Street starting first grade. She started piano lessons at this time. With her sister, Nancy, Patricia formed an informal piano duo, billed as “The Morsovski Sisters.” In 1941 the family returned to a newly constructed home on the Thompson Estate in Hooksett, where she attended The Hooksett Village School, a four-room schoolhouse.
After the war, she took horseback riding lessons. For Christmas in 1946, her father bought her a Morgan horse named “Pell.” She rode Pell in shows throughout her high school years. About this time she formed an attachment to Irish Setters and cats, which she had as pets throughout her life. She attended Pembroke Academy on the varsity girls’ basketball team, practiced public speaking and took parts in plays. Childhood summers were spent at the family camp on Lake Winnipesaukee where her father kept a Chris Craft cruiser, lake boats and a Garwood speedboat. She loved to talk about her memories of the old Lakeshore Railroad trains going by the camp and a neighbor sinking the Garwood in the boathouse to save it during the hurricane of ’38. After graduation, she spent the summer as a waterfront counselor at the Treasure Island Girl Scout Camp, just beyond Sleeper’s Island on Lake Winnipesaukee, where she taught swimming and sailing.
She enrolled in the Bouve Boston School at Tufts University in Physical Education, and transferred to the University of New Hampshire. She left college to marry Albert “Skip” Devitt, an Air Force meteorologist. As a military wife, she moved to Chicago, Cape Cod, and then to the town of Grottaferrata, outside of Rome, Italy. Other postings included Fort Richie Maryland, and Charleston, SC. Wherever she was in the world, she returned to her beloved Camp on Lake Winnipesaukee, missing only the 4 summers she was in Italy.
She became a consummate seamstress, sewing clothing without patterns, and frugally dressing her young toddlers in identical costumes.
While in Italy she bought a 1954 Jaguar sedan with a sun roof, the first in a long line of interesting automobiles, which included an early 1960’s Karmann Ghia, a white 1965 Ford Mustang with a baby blue interior, and several Chrysler convertibles. During the late 1950’s the young family also toured Europe in their VW Microbus camper.
She married Chaplain (Colonel) John P. Nix in 1967, moving to Manchester while Col. Nix was in Vietnam, then to Fort Riley, Kansas. Upon Col. Nix’s military retirement in 1971 the family returned to Hooksett, where Col. Nix became minister of the Hooksett Congregational Church. In 1976, they moved to Naples, Florida, which became her permanent winter home. John Nix passed away on December 12, 1989.
She met Richard G. Ford at the First Christian Church of Naples where he was Sexton and she was a Deacon. They were married on November 22, 2003. Dick and Pat remained active in church affairs, held gala house parties and traveled extensively including trips to Alaska and Greece.
At Camp in the summer, they loved to sit on the deck together, to watch the parade of family with their boats come and go. Patricia always had a jar of homemade chocolate chip cookies on the counter for the taking.
She received her B.S., Cum Laude, at the University of South Florida, and her M.S. in Education, at the University of Miami, Florida, with honors in the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society. In Naples, she was employed at the Headstart Program; at the Training and Education Center for the Handicapped; at the Chapter I Migrant Program; as a Teacher for Varying Exceptionalities classes; and as a teacher for Grades 2 and 5, at the Poinciana Elementary School, Naples.
Her church affiliations include the Gilford Community Church, Gilford, NH; First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Naples; First Congregational Church, Naples; First Christian Church; and the Lighthouse UCC Church
Her non-profit affiliations included Habitat for Humanity; Miracle Limbs in Motion, Advisory Board; Jubilee Church fellowship, as a founding member.
She is survived by her husband, Richard G. Ford, of Gilford; sons, Michael Charles Nix and his wife Tracy Brockett, of Greenfield, MA; David Marshall Nix and his wife Sharon, of Belmont, NH, Stephan Thompson Nix and his wife Maureen, of Gilford, NH, and her daughter Patricia Lee Nix, of Newport, NH; Grandchildren Elizabeth Karyn Nix Castaldi, David Matthew Nix, Kevin Michael Nix, Kelly Lee Nix, Melanie Lynn Nix, Jonathan Michael Colle, Toni Marie Nix, Stephan Marshall Nix, and Great Grandchildren Dominic William Castaldi, Faye Olivia Nix, Claire Emily Nix, Mia Aurora Nix, and Ethan Gabriel Nix.
A Celebration of Life will be held at the Gilford Community Church on Friday, September 4, 2015 at 1 pm.19 Potter Hill Rd. Gilford, NH 03249.
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Central NH VNA & Hospice: http://www.centralvna.org, 780 North Main St., Laconia, NH 03246 or the Gilford Community Church: http://www.gilfordcommunitychurch.org, 19 Potter Hill Rd., Gilford, NH 03249.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N.H. is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.