Obituary of Patricia Jean Thurston

Patricia Jean Thurston, 91, passed away on September 26, 2011. Patricia was born in Manning, Oregon to Margaret Jane (Alexander) and Henry William Hunt. She was the youngest of seven children. She remembered walking to her dad’s lumber mill in Banks when she was young. Patricia enjoyed playing basketball and tennis at Hillsboro High School. She entered the work force as a secretary and worked for Commercial Iron Works during WWII, KPTV in Portland and the U.S. Weather Bureau in Boise, Idaho. When the opportunity to work and travel became too much to ignore, she was able to use her status with the U.S. Weather Bureau to transfer to other jobs, such as working for the Army and the Air Force in Korea, Japan, Vietnam (during the war) and Montana. She was present at the time when the crew from the Pueblo was released from North Korea and was one of the last flights out of Vietnam at the war’s end. Her overseas assignments afforded her an opportunity to travel extensively in Asia. She spent several years in Juneau, Alaska and finished her working career with the FBI in Portland. Patricia is survived by her sons Errol Eshaia (Gail), Michal Eshaia, and Patrick Thurston (Kathe), seven grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.