TODAY’S OBITS
• Barta, Patricia Ann Brock
Patricia Ann Brock Barta, 76, died peacefully following a long illness on Wednesday, October 29, 2019 at Arden Courts of Yardley, Pennsylvania, a memory care facility located near her niece.
Born in Watertown, South Dakota in 1943, Pat grew up in Iowa and Minnesota, spending most of her early life in White Bear Lake, MN where she graduated from high school. A motivated student, she enrolled at the University of Minnesota, earning an undergraduate degree in Education and Sociology. She continued her studies at the university, eventually earning a Ph.D. in education, with a focus on curriculum and instruction.
She began her thirty-two year career with the Minneapolis Public Schools as an elementary teacher, and went on to serve in a variety of roles, including elementary principal, teacher of special education, and a supervisor of several programs for emotionally disturbed and autistic children. She also served as a supervisor and mentor for beginning teachers at the University of Minnesota. Professionally, she continued coursework to develop her repertoire of skills and knowledge, studying reading and literacy, educational psychology/special education, child psychology, and educational leadership and administration. While working fulltime, she also earned a Juris Doctor degree from William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul, MN. She ended her tenure with the Minneapolis district as Director of Special Education before moving to the Philadelphia suburbs.
Pat continued her work as an educator for another sixteen years in the Rose Tree Media School District in Media, Pennsylvania as the Special Education Supervisor. In total, Pat committed forty-eight years to the field of education and positively touched the lives of thousands of students.
Spending the last decades of her life in Delaware County, Pat loved travel, movies, reading, especially mysteries, police procedural detective shows, dining out at restaurants, and being with family and friends.
Pat was preceded in death by her sister Nancy Clotilda Brock Bech of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania and her parents, Lois and Norval Brock of Fairfield, Illinois. She is survived by nephews Fritz Bech (Jenny) of Salt Lake City, Utah and Paul Brock Bech (Polly) of Swarthmore, Pennsylvania; niece Kate Bech (Nick Hegedus) of Pennington, New Jersey; grandnieces Madeleine Bech and Hannah Bech, and grandnephews Nathan Bech and Elliot Bech; and friend Anastasia (Stacey) Faunce (Dean Arnold) and son Milan Faunce-Arnold of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Donations in Pat’s memory may be made to AchieveMpls in support of the Minneapolis public schools: 2829 University Ave SE, Suite 850, Minneapolis, MN 55414 or to a charity of choice.