Biograph
y
1960
- Born on a summer Sunday in the beautiful valley of Boscobel, Wisconsin.
Parents scuttle hopes of ‘Timothy Edward’ and combine their own names to
welcome third daughter: Patrice
Josephine. Siblings later trim this to PJ.
1966
- 1971 Patty Jo attends Immaculate
Conception Grade School where Sister Juan Marie nurtures a love of reading and
writing. In the third grade Patty delivers her first public speech courtesy of
the Worldbook Encyclopedia. The
experience later serves as a cautionary tale for hundreds of college
composition students when discussing unintentional plagiarism; they prefer the
story about the time a neighbor ran over her lip with a bicycle.
1971
- 1978 Interest in music and theater at
Boscobel Area
Schools saves Patti from earning the distinction of ‘most
injuries sustained in a non-contact sport’ on the tennis team. Babysitting
enterprise leads to a summer of pushing swings in suburban Chicago, a ‘close enough’ encounter with
Barry Manilow, and a new typewriter for the aspiring writer.
1978
- Patrice moves to Madison and works in a long-term care facility.
Begins and ends college career at the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Sets record for longest college registration process and shortest ROTC
membership. Search for serotonin goes awry; plunges into eating disorder abyss.
1979
- 1980 Works in JC Penney catalog
department; masters teletype moments before equipment becomes obsolete. Moves
to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to develop temping career
(clerical, retail).
1980
- 1983 Attends and graduates from Viterbo University
with a B.A. in English. Performs with Viterbo Concert Choir; tours western
Europe in a seafoam gown. Explores glamorous work-study opportunities in
housekeeping, alumni office, and hospital development. Writes partial draft of
FEAR ITSELF, a gloomy novel about unrequited love and social conditioning;
hides novel.
1984
- Pursues short-term contracted work
(retail, clerical).
1985
- 1988 Teaches composition at South Dakota State
University while pursuing M.A. in Comparative
Literature. Ploddingly writes thesis
which advisor insists on titling Iris
Murdoch’s “Learning Protagonists”:
Toward Contingency, Responsibility and Reality. Repeatedly consults
dictionary for definition of ‘contingency.’ Eager to spend the next fifteen
years paying off students loans, prolongs graduate school by taking the
education block.
1988
- 1999 Trades wind-swept plains for
scenic river town. Teaches composition and
literature, speech, technical writing, and journalism at Ellsworth Community College in Iowa Falls, Iowa.
Sponsors student newspaper and promotes annual literary contest and
publication. Surrenders all hope of a
personal life. Writes partial draft of unnamed novel; shreds manuscript.
1999
- 2001 Teaches at Scott
Community College, in Bettendorf, Iowa.
Begins long distance relationship with former colleague
based on email; marries, moves to Arizona.
Develops a healthy respect for cactus and a mediocre tolerance of extreme heat.
2002
- 2007 Writes many drafts of novel that
becomes Alumni Affairs. Develops partial
drafts for Villa Hooey, Lessons in Duplicity, and Chanteuse on the Loose.