Patricia Lee Finlay

She had a courageous year-long battle with lung cancer, all the while looking her best, as we were accustomed to seeing her, even in times of illness. She had always wanted to live by the beach and got to spend her last 25 years at her home in Aptos with her loving husband Douglas (Barney).

Patty was born March 11, 1946, in Mason City, Iowa, (where the tall corn grows), to Lee Kreglo Price and Helen (Scott) Price, who preceded her in death. She is survived by her husband Barney, her sons Michael (Grass Valley) and Jason (San Marcos), son-in-law Travis (Jerusha) (Suffolk, VA.), her sister Sherry (Klamath Falls, Ore.) and brother Larry (Carol) (Bandon, Ore.), as well as two special nieces Kim (Greg)(Sacramento), and Seana (Ladera Ranch) as well as younger nieces, nephews, and grandchildren, and her longtime best friend Nancy (El Cajon).

Patty spent her early years in small towns in Iowa, with many friends and often spent weekends on the farm with the cousins, always enjoying her time spent with family and friends. The family moved to California to seek a better job for Lee settling in Imperial Beach. She attended Mar Vista high where she was an honor student and was voted homecoming queen and best personality. She started work after high school as a clerk with attorneys in San Diego. She met and married Gerald Menezes and they moved to Chula Vista, where both her sons were born and raised. The two boys were the light of her life.

While raising the two boys, she started working for public schools in the San Diego area in the Business department and began an over 35-year career in School Business. Over the years while working and maintaining the family, she achieved a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree and steadily advanced in the School Business field.

She accepted the position of Deputy Superintendent of Business in the Placer County Office of Education in 1991 and found herself in northern California for the first time, quite a difference from the southern California work scene and certainly far from the flat farmlands of Iowa. Eventually, she met the love of her life Barney and after a long, long-distance relationship, moved to Aptos and they married in 1999. She worked as Deputy Superintendent of Business for the Gilroy Unified School District and also the Salinas City Elementary School District. Upon her retirement in 2005, she became a School Business consultant and was highly sought after and respected for her work. She was especially good at helping school districts in financial difficulty and worked with districts throughout northern California, finally ending her career in 2010, when Barney also retired. She had also become a docent at Seymour Center and was well liked by all she worked with and was very successful as both a docent and volunteer.

In their retirement years, while always fitting in spending time with family and friends, Patty and Barney never let any moss grow under their feet and proceeded to explore the country and world. They traveled across the country 8 times in their RV’s, took 35 cruises, and visited all 50 states, all of Canada and 55 countries. All the while she kept saying “I can’t believe that little Patty Price from Iowa got to visit this place or see this”.

She loved her family and friends and she cherished the time she got to spend with them. She always looked forward to the holiday periods and to the sharing of gifts, happiness, and joy. Anyone who had the opportunity to get to know Patty were charmed by her always present smile, sparkling eyes, her genuine kindness and her caring and loving approach to people.

“Until death do us part”, are words we never thought would be enacted. While we all have a deep void in our lives as a result of her passing, the one thing that can be said is that she had a life well lived. Enough cannot be said of the attention and great care she received from her PAMF and Stanford doctors as well as Hospice of Santa Cruz, especially, Dr. Kim, Dr. McMullen, Dr. Morris, and all the helpers at Hospice and her nurse Patty. At her request, there will not be a service, and her ashes will be spread in the Monterey Bay attended by family members. She always wanted to be by the sea.