PATRICIA ANN DUNHARDT
1955-2020
Patricia Ann Dunhardt (Patty), 64, of Manassas, VA died 06 May 2020 at the Prince William Medical Center as the result of a cardiac arrest on 23 April. She was 64. She is survived by her husband of more than 37 years, Robert D. Taylor, PhD (Bob) and her wonderful son, Daniel B. Taylor, 23, who is a professional truck driver for Swift Transportation. Patty was born 30 July 1955 in Riverside, NJ to Harry Woolman Dunhardt and Geraldine May Anderson Dunhardt (Jerry), both of whom preceded her in death (Harry in 1983,
Jerry in 2002). She had a stepbrother, Jack Dunhardt, who also passed before her. Patty attended Brainerd ES and F.W. Holbein Intermediate schools in Mt. Holly, NJ and was at Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mt. Holly until her family moved to Vincentown, NJ. She graduated from Lanape Regional High School in June of 1973. A Girl Scout from the 2nd to 12th grades, Patty also served as a Candy Striper at Burlington County Memorial Hospital. Patty graduated with a BA in Biology from Douglass College, Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ in June of 1977. She moved to Blacksburg, VA and worked as a laboratory technician in the Biology Department, where she met Bob in late 1980.
Patty married Bob in Blacksburg, VA, after he became an Assistant Professor of Microbiology at the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) in Hattiesburg, MS. They bought a home in Purvis, MS and lived there with her Dalmatian, Callie, and their cats, K-Four and Ralph. Pat worked as a lab tech at the Pathology Laboratory and then at Leaf River Forest Products while Bob was an Associate Professor at USM. In 1987, they all moved to Clear Lake, TX, near Houston, when Bob accepted a job at Johnson Space Center with a NASA contractor. Pat had been accepted into a Master’s degree program at LSU Baton Rouge in 1986 and completed her coursework in 1998 and project to receive her Master’s degree in Zoology. She worked as a research assistant in Dr. Charles Stuart’s endocrinology lab at UTMB Galveston, investigating muscle changes in astronauts and insulin resistance. The family (with pets) moved to San Antonio, TX in 1992 where Bob worked for the MITRE Corp. and then for Booz Allen and Hamilton.
Pat worked at UTHSC-San
Antonio until Daniel was born in 1997. (They found out that Daniel was on his way during a BMWMOA motorcycle national rally in Morganton, NC. She rode her Yamaha Virago XV535 from San Antonio there and back.) They relocated to Manassas, VA (and that’s when
Patty said they needed to stop fixing up houses for other people to live in) in summer of 1998 where Bob worked for Mitretek/Noblis and later the Northrop Grumman Corp. She was active in rearing her son Daniel and she served her church family at Buckhall United Methodist Church by teaching Sunday school, serving as Chair of the SPRC (Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committee) and working on Celebrations of Life for Buckhall congregants who had passed on.
Patty enjoyed spending time with her neighbors and working with her plants, flowers, and bird feeders. She and Bob made a monarch butterfly bed for milkweed plants in 2018 and have had several crops of caterpillars since then. They saw one monarch butterfly in 2019 and claimed it as their own success story in the effort to maintain the monarch population.
Patty was a terrific woman, wife, mother, and friend. She had a smile that lit up her whole face (and this has been noted by several people), an excellent intellect, and a truly warm heart for those in need. She also often reminded
Bob that he had to adjust his clock to Patty Standard Time (which was almost always a little later than the regular time). She will be missed greatly by everyone who knew her, including her brother- and sister-inlaw, Hugh N. and Judy S. Taylor of Richland WA and nieces, Charissa Kovin and her husband Russ of The Woodlands, TX and Renata G. Fulcher of Ethel, LA.
Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic Patty’s funeral services will be held privately but will begin at 2pm Tuesday, 12 May, followed by a private graveside service. She will be buried in Mount Holly Cemetery, Mt. Holly, NJ. There will be a Celebration of Life for Patricia Ann Dunhardt at Buckhall United Methodist Church at a later date because of COVID-19 issues for public health protection. Please check BUMC’s website - https://www.buckhall-umc. org/ - and its calendar for information about the Celebration of Life for Patricia Ann Dunhardt. Donations can be made to the Lymphoma and Leukemia Society, National Breast Cancer Foundation, or the Autism Research Institute in Patty’s memory.