Obituary of Patricia Grimes

Patricia Grimes of Morgan’s Point, Texas, passed away in Houston, Texas on August 29, 2020, due to complications from Covid-19. She was 94. She was born Keith Patricia Hurley in Denver, Colorado on November 13, 1925, the daughter of Keith Patrick Hurley, an engineer, and the former Mary Woolfolk, a schoolteacher. The family moved to Houston, Texas in 1935 after living in Mexico City for a time. After graduating from Lamar High School, Patricia attended the University of Texas in Austin, where she studied drawing and sculpture. Her lifelong passion was writing, however, which she indulged for as long as she could hold a pen, leaving behind several journals and countless family scrapbooks. She created a volume for each of her six children, adding lively captions and notes for each photo, drawing, or newspaper clipping. Every family outing, birthday, or excursion got the full treatment, and over the years, each scrapbook took on the heft of an annotated biography, much cherished by all members of the family. In January of 1949 Patricia married John Alan Grimes from Hopewell Junction, New York, after a whirlwind three-month romance. The two met during a production of “Clash by Night”, directed by Nina Vance, at the newly founded Alley Theater in Houston. When asked about the role she was assigned in the play, Patricia would casually reply “a prostitute”. This might have been a joke. Prim and proper, she cringed at anything approaching coarse language. Even the word “stink” was deemed unacceptable. In later years, when the urge to curse came upon her, she would use her eldest daughter as an excuse: “Well, as Mary Lynn would say, “@#%$)&!!!” John’s job as a newspaper reporter, initially for the Houston Press, led to several moves across the country before the family, which now included three sons and a daughter, settled in Chevy Chase, Maryland in 1954. Patricia and John raised six children in a two-story house on Inverness Drive, remembered by one and all as an open and welcoming harbor where all manner of folk came and pets of all description found a safe haven. It was a popular party house, with tiki torches and a barbecue grill on the backyard patio, and a rehearsal venue for various bands organized by sons Biff and Keith. More than once the police, responding to irate phone calls about the noise, turned up on the doorstep to enforce the law. Entertained by the music, they decided the complaints were unwarranted. Patricia welcomed an endless procession of animals, whose naming she took very seriously. No Fluffy or Fido, Rex or Tiger. She and her husband both liked outlandish human names or inventions that seemed to suit the particular animal in question. Thus: Tufton Beamish III (a black cocker spaniel/dachshund mix), Gladstone Cumberbath (a Russian Blue cat), Mrs. Abercrombie (a caramel-colored guinea pig), and Scrabbly Walter Mars (a tiny turtle). The menagerie was ever-changing: dogs, cats, many generations of guinea pigs, hamsters, the odd toad or turtle, an injured squirrel named Nutty Joe (he recuperated in the pocket of Patricia’s bathrobe), and free-range parakeets who soared through the house, perching on curtain rods or dive-bombing startled guests and coming to rest on their shoulders, or even more unsettling, their eyeglasses. While raising her children, Patricia worked as news editor for Military Medicine, the official journal of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States (AMSUS), in Kensington, Maryland, during the 1970s. She rode her bicycle five miles to and from work each day and regaled her children every night with tales of her bosses--”the colonel” and “the admiral’’--mysterious authority figures who supplied her with a daily dose of aggravation. During this period she took great pride in leading a campaign to correct an injustice inflicted on Dr. Mary E. Walker, awarded the Medal of Honor for her service treating the wounded of the Union Army during the Civil War. Walker, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, had the award taken from her in 1917 when Congress revised the rules for the medal, restricting it to those who have engaged in actual combat with enemy forces. Walker’s medal was reinstated by President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Patricia was an avid environmentalist and birdwatcher, a tireless volunteer (docent at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., assisting in classes at the Audubon Society, demonstrating sculpture techniques in local schools) and an enthusiastic gardener. After purchasing a house in Morgan’s Point in 1972 and moving there in 1980, she and John became members of the Sierra Club, Galveston Bay Foundation, Galveston Bay Conservation and Preservation Association, and the La Porte Garden Club, to name but a few of the organizations that enjoyed their support. Patricia long nourished the secret desire to fly an aircraft, a goal she achieved on her 85th birthday, when she flew a glider in Waller, Texas. Patricia and John devoted years of service to one of their favorite organizations, Armand Bayou Nature Center in Pasadena, Texas. After several years as a volunteer, Patricia signed on as volunteer coordinator of the center in 1983. After serving for two years, she continued as a volunteer until well into the 1990s. Snake demonstrations were her specialty, often assisted by her grandson Andrew. Passersby on Bayridge Road in the early morning or late afternoon could see Patricia’s head, with floppy hat, bobbing up and down as she bent over her many cherished plants. Totally absorbed, she lost all track of the hours, and family members had to set a timer for her. Occasionally, they had to rescue her when she toppled from her stool into a flowerbed. Such incidents became alarming as the years went by, but Patricia forged ahead resolutely, propelled by an undeniable stubborn streak. Although naturally shy and introverted, easily flustered and embarrassed, Patricia also adhered to a Southern code that encouraged social interaction. In her mind, there was no such thing as a stranger. Much to the dismay of her children, tugging at the leash, she would strike up extended conversations with anyone she encountered, whether neighbor, sales clerk, or doorman. Casual errands turned into epic sagas, and Patricia made a point of introducing her children to anyone she had spoken more than three words to, as though a life-long friendship was in the cards. Like her husband, Patricia was devoted to the city of Morgan’s Point and worked tirelessly for its benefit. She served as mayor from 2008 to 2010, following in the footsteps of John, who had been elected to his fifth term in office when he was killed in a tragic accident in 1992. Her campaign poster displayed a photo of her Yorkshire terrier accompanied by the slogan “Toby Joe as First Dog.” Once in office, she enjoyed using a gavel that, when struck on a surface, made the sound of shattering glass. Her politics were firmly liberal. One of her oldest friends, Barbara Perrin, laments that Patricia was unable to honor the pact that the two of them had made, to last until the November election and cast a Democratic vote. She was preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, John Allen Grimes of Morgan’s Point, Texas, her sister, Barbara Greene and husband Page Greene of Odessa, Texas, and her brother Dick Hurley of Vancouver, Washington. Patricia is survived by her six children: John Henry Grimes of West Long Branch, New Jersey, William Henry Grimes and wife Nancy Grimes of Cochranville, Pennsylvania, Keith Patrick Grimes of Chevy Chase Maryland, Mary Lynn Grimes and her fiancé Wayne Cuthbertson of Morgan’s Point, Texas, Christy Ann Grimes of New Orleans, Louisiana, and Catherine Frances Leigh Sarns of College Park, Maryland. She leaves behind grandson Andrew Michael Grimes and wife Maureen Elizabeth Grimes of Cypress, Texas, grandson Matthew Scott MacDonald of Grand Junction, Colorado, and granddaughter Leslie Grimes of Asheville, North Carolina. She is also survived by great-grandchildren John Patrick Grimes, Eleanor Claire Grimes and Rosemary Elizabeth Grimes of Cypress, Texas, Brayden Louis MacDonald of Grand Junction, Colorado, Charlotte Isabella Pinkerton and Ireland Georgia Alice MacDonald of Newburgh, Indiana. She also leaves behind her beloved overweight and fluffy orange tabby, Marmalade, who will miss the many treats his benefactor bestowed upon him. A memorial service and celebration will be held sometime in the future when it is safe for friends and family to gather. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Armand Bayou Nature Center, 8500 Bay Area Blvd., Pasadena, TX 77507.