[Posted with permission by Tom King.  Modified 12-18-2014 to reflect additional information on Pat's career]
 
 
 
 

 

She was averse to social media, but since word is getting around, I need to verify for her many friends and colleagues – and mine, that Pat Parker died early Tuesday morning (16 December). Her passage was peaceful; her son Tom and I were with her at Holy Cross Hospital here in Silver Spring.

Pat had a PhD in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania, having studied under the late Ward Goodenough and done dissertation work in Chuuk, where among other accomplishments she became fluent in the language and helped mediate a major dispute between two traditional villages and the government. She also co-directed the Tonaachaw Historic District ethnoarchaeological project,
Published in The Ossuary