Patricia Ann Castor

December 20, 1929 – August 2, 2024

Patricia Ann Castor, 94, passed away peacefully on August 2, 2024, at the Jennings McCall Retirement Center in Forest Grove, Oregon. Born December 20, 1929, in Cleveland, Ohio, Pat was the daughter of Harold and Mary (Wilkens) Lawson.  She enjoyed a happy childhood in the Cleveland area and then completed one year of college before leaving to return home to take care of a younger brother for a year during her mother’s illness.

A proficient piano player, Pat enjoyed playing her entire life; at one point even considering a professional career. She was also an avid photographer who had her own darkroom in the basement of her parent’s house in Cleveland where she experimented with color photography at a time when most everyone was doing only black and white.  Her photographs were always admired by friends and family. She also was an enthusiastic book reader, exploring the world through historical fiction.

At the age of 19 and with her mother recovered, Pat took the train from Cleveland to Albuquerque, New Mexico to explore that area and support herself through photography. She developed a lifelong fascination with the Southwest culture and turquoise became her favorite color. Her children remember that every house they lived in had turquoise walls or carpet!  Leaving Albuquerque, she travelled by train to San Francisco and took the Chief (train) to Chicago, visiting the World’s Fair with her parents. She next made her way to Boston, visiting her grandparents and aunts there and ultimately living there for several years before deciding to strike out west again. This time she arrived in Denver, Colorado and met her future husband E. Bryce Castor. They married July 10, 1952, and their four children were all born in Denver.

Following her husband’s career, Pat and her family moved and lived in St. Charles, Missouri, then West Boylston Massachusetts, then to Fullerton, California. In each place Pat found work in office settings and upon retiring from Superior Fireplace in the Human Resource Department she and her husband moved to Prescott, Arizona. After her husband passed away in 1995, she continued to enjoy travelling, both to her extended family to visit children and grandchildren, and to explore new places in the U.S. and abroad. She enjoyed trips to Scandinavia, Holland, Austria, Australia and more. In 2016 she decided to downsize and move into the Jennings McCall Retirement Center in Forest Grove, Oregon where she still pursued her interests in music, photography and reading while enjoying her children’s and grandchildren’s accomplishments.

preceded in death by her husband E. Bryce Castor and her brother Peter Lawson.  She is survived by her son Lawrence (Joni) Castor, daughter Christine Castor, daughter Sandra (Brian) Catlin, and son Thomas (Judy) Castor in addition to her seven grandchildren; David Castor, Elizabeth Castor, Sarah Lewis, Melissa Castor, Jessica Castor, Kira Catlin, Quinn Catlin, her great granddaughter AvaLynn Castor and her step granddaughter Marlowe Krewson.  In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests that donations be made to the Tenderly Hospice in Portland, Oregon or the Jennings McCall Retirement Center in Forest Grove, Oregon.

Patricia’s spirit will live on in the hearts of all who knew and loved her. She will be deeply missed, but never forgotten.