Patricia A. English

Pat, as she was called, was born the only child to Herbert and Bernadine Wandke in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1937. She graduated from Marquette University with a B.S. in nursing in 1959.

The following year, she married Paul English and traveled with him to Iran, where he researched his dissertation. The young couple left London in a secondhand jeep – rumored to have belonged to Averill Harriman during World War II – and drove through France, Yugoslavia and Turkey, then into Iran. They were armed with reams of toilet paper, which they’d been advised to bring with them, youth and a sense of adventure.

During the next 18 months in Iran, Pat gave birth to her eldest child, Paul Jr., who was six weeks premature and weighed only 4.4 pounds. The baby was delivered by a local doctor who was a Nazi refugee from the war. The three Englishes lived in a mud hut outside Kerman.

Pat English and her family moved to Austin in 1963. The following year, Pat gave birth to her daughter Elisabeth, who died as an infant, and, in 1966, her son Peter. In 1969, Pat entered the University of Texas School of Law at a time when women comprised only 5 percent of law students. The only hours she had to study were late at night, when her children were asleep.

After graduating from law school in 1972, Pat went to work for the Austin office of Stubbeman, McRae, Sealy, Laughlin & Browder and eventually became the first female partner. “I loved it there,” she recalled. “I wasn’t a woman in that firm; I was a lawyer.” She was a founding partner of the firm now known as Noelke English Maples St Leger, she was ranked in “The Best Lawyers in America” from 1987 on and was a fellow in the Texas Bar Foundation.

Pat found her calling as a family lawyer, where she excelled and was honored with the 2006 Travis County Distinguished Lawyer Award. By the time she began her family law practice, she had been divorced herself and knew what it was like to be in her clients’ position. She understood their sadness and sense of abandonment – and she made a profound difference in many of their lives, championing them and taking care of them when they felt most alone.

In her private life, Pat was funny, opinionated, outspoken and fiercely loyal to her friends. She loved to travel with her beloved companion of 30 years, L.E. Davis. As a shopper she was legendary, commanding the slavish attention of legions of department and jewelry store employees when she was in what one of her friends called her “Jackie O” mood.

Pat is survived by her sons Paul, of Houston, and Peter, of Austin, as well as her grandchildren Paul III of Houston; Ava, of Midland; and Elinore, of Austin. She also leaves behind her much-loved fiancé, L.E. Davis, of Lampasas, many heartbroken friends and former clients and a few bitter parties who faced her in the courtroom.

Special thanks to Hospice Austin, especially Shelly Baker, RN, who provided great comfort. Thanks also to Charlie’s Angels: Charlesetta Wormley, Karon Williams, Jeanette Tolliver, Mary Gil, and Sandra Kelly.

Funeral services will be at St. Austin’s Catholic Church on Monday, October 11, 2010 at 1pm. Visitation will be at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral home on Sunday, October 10, 2010 from 6-8pm. Burial Services to be held in Milwaukee, WI, at a later date. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Hospice Austin.