Patricia Garrison Boorman

Patricia Garrison Boorman passed away peacefully on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 2019. She was surrounded by family and the loving staff and caregivers who knew her, in the assisted living home where she had spent the last year.

Pat was born on May 9, 1923, and raised in Baltimore and the Washington, D.C area, where she resided all of her life. She attended The Calvert School in Baltimore, and later Gunston Hall in Washington, DC. She was the youngest daughter of Dr. Fielding Hudson Garrison, a distinguished medical historian and physician, who wrote several scholarly works, including the landmark A History of Medicine, considered to be the definitive single-volume on the topic. He was also a linguist, translator and a skilled pianist. He met Patricia’s mother, Clara Augusta Brown, at one of his piano recitals. Clara and Fielding were married in a double wedding alongside Clara’s sister Bertha and Henry Campbell Black of Black’s Law Dictionary.

Patricia’s older sisters were Margaret Garrison Estey, a painter and artist, and Shirley Garrison Klein, a realtor. Garrison family friends included General "Black Jack" Pershing, her uncle, and social critic H. L. Mencken, who was a pall-bearer at Fielding's funeral in 1935.

Pat attended The College of William and Mary for two years after she graduated from Gunston Hall in 1940. In 1943 she married James Baker Pierce, whom she met while staying with her lifelong best friend Mary Anne Donnally (Eckert), who lived across the street from the Pierce family. Mary Anne’s father, John Cotton Donnally, walked Pat down the aisle. After the start of World War II, the husbands of the three Garrison sisters all served in the armed forces. Considering public concern about the safety of the Nation’s Capitol during wartime, Pat, Shirley, and Margaret moved to Berryville, Virginia, with their children and rented a large farmhouse. Pat’s first daughter, Jennifer, was born during the war, and she remembered this as one of the most relaxed and fun parts of her life. After the war ended, Pat and her sisters returned to Washington, D.C. Pat and James had three more children: James (1947 - 2005), and twin sisters Cynthia and Shelley (born August 1952).

Pat was a successful real estate agent, and eventually became a partner in her own firm, MGMB Realtors. After her divorce, Pat stayed in the D.C. area and eventually made the move to Thornapple Street in Chevy Chase, MD, to a house built the same year she was born, and where she remained until 2018. Shirley and Maryanne lived only a few blocks away.

Pat enjoyed entertaining, especially her holiday and birthday parties. She was known for her colorful language, her independence, and her intellect. Pat had a sharp aesthetic sensibility, and was a collector of Delftware, Chinese ceramics and prints, oil paintings, early American furniture, and Catholic iconography. An avid reader, she voraciously consumed the news and mystery novels in equal measure. She was a dog lover, especially corgies and scotties, but came to love cats later in life.

During her later years, Pat was able to stay in her home thanks in great part to her daughter Cynthia, who lived with her and cared for her for over six years. During her last year, Pat decided to move to an assisted living residential home, where she had visitors nearly every day. While she outlived her friends of her own generation, Pat became a mother figure and friend to many of the next generation, including her nieces and nephews, her own children’s friends, and her best friend Mary Anne’s family. She maintained her sharp mind and her humor until the end.

Patricia was preceded in death by her son, James Fielding Pierce, who passed away on December 25, 2005. She is survived by her three daughters, Cynthia (Pierce), Jennifer (Gallivan), and Shelley (Kreutzmann), her son-in-law John Gallivan, and granddaughter Emily Gallivan. Pat had a large group of extended family and friends who loved her.