According to Ralph Morrow, if you hear the “Tennessee Waltz” and it’s off key, it’s probably his late wife Pat “Miss Pat” Morrow messing with you.
“She gave us four years to get ready,” Councilman Morrow said during the Tuesday, May 21 City Council meeting.
Pat Morrow passed away on Friday, May 10, at Torrance Memorial Hospital on the mainland. She died following a stroke. It was her second stroke since one that debilitated her four years ago.
According to Ralph Morrow, if you hear the “Tennessee Waltz” and it’s off key, it’s probably his late wife Pat “Miss Pat” Morrow messing with you.
“She gave us four years to get ready,” Councilman Morrow said during the Tuesday, May 21 City Council meeting.
Pat Morrow passed away on Friday, May 10, at Torrance Memorial Hospital on the mainland. She died following a stroke. It was her second stroke since one that debilitated her four years ago.
Memorial arrangements are still being made. Ralph Morrow said there would be a mass for her on the mainland “in a couple of weeks” for her immediate family in San Fernando Valley. Ralph put Pat’s immediate family at about 100 people.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Pat Morrow on Catalina Island toward the end of June, but before the Fourth of July holiday.
Ralph Morrow said their son Nick Morrow will probably have a story about her prepared for that Celebration of Life.
Nick Morrow is currently scanning the photo albums Pat Morrow left behind.
An avid photographer long before cameras were built into telephones, Pat Morrow left behind about 25 to 30 photo albums, according to her husband.
Ralph Morrow said “Miss Pat” had photographed virtually everyone on the Island and their pictures would be part of the celebration of her life.
Ralph Morrow said the community would be actively involved in planning the event.
He has already received many calls from people to make sure they have a role in the arrangements.
He wants his wife to be remembered and expects a strong turn out for her Celebration of Life.
She was born in East Los Angeles on May 15, 1939.
Ralph and the future Pat Morrow met in Montebello, Calif., when she was 14. He joined the Navy. When he got out about four, perhaps four and a half years later, “she was still around,” and they married a month after he left the service.
They were married for 53 years.
In 1973, the Morrows opened a store on the Island that they ranfor 27 years. Morrow said “Miss Pat” met just about everyone in town there.
“She was always active, always doing things,” Morrow said.
According to Morrow, she raised millions for local charities. Asked which charities, Morrow said: “All of them.”
Ralph Morrow was appointed to the hospital board in 1975 and his wife helped raise funds for the hospital. “We had to make up for the losses for the hospital,” she said.
She was a member of the Women’s Forum.
The Rotary Club gave her the Paula Harris Award for 1997-98. The Catalina Islander named her Citizen of the Year in 1998, Morrow said.
She loved singing and dancing.
“She had a lot of fun while she was here,” Ralph Morrow said.
She owned tap dancing shoes.
She and Bob Salisbury performed many songs together over the years. Ralph Morrow said that during one Silent Film Benefit, organist Salisbury had her stand up and sing the “Tennessee Waltz,” as he played. Both performers deliberately did the song off-key.
“It was just a schtick, that’s all,” Morrow said.
Pat Morrow was a prankster. Morrow said she once toilet papered City Hall. The obituary that announced her passing described her as “a force of nature.”
“She was a rock star in this town,” Morrow said.
He credited her with any political success he enjoyed.
“They only elected me mayor four times because of her,” Morrow said. “They wanted her to be First Lady.”
Someone once told Morrow he looked familiar, then said: “Oh, I know. You’re Miss Pat’s husband.”
He called her a queen who didn’t act like a queen.
She became ill seven years ago. She endured four heart surgeries before she was diagnosed as being in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.
Then, about four years ago, Pat Morrow had a stroke. The stroke left her only able to say one word. Morrow described the situation as frustrating for her.
“She could sing a little bit after her stroke,” he said.
Salisbury cut a CD for her of all the songs they had performed together. “That was part of her therapy,” Morrow said.
The Morrows owned the cable TV station at the time and were losing money.
Morrow had to become a caregiver and hire people to do his work in the cable business.
The business was eventually sold.
Four years after the first stroke, on the Monday prior to her death, the family couldn’t wake her up. She had suffered another stroke. She never recovered from the coma.
Morrow said there would have been no quality of life for Miss Pat as a result of the second stroke.
He told the City Council this week that paramedics were at the house within two minutes of 911 being called.
She died Friday, May 10, on the mainland.
Salisbury arrived in Avalon to play the organ for the Silent Film Benefit and learned of her passing. He dedicated his performance to Pat Morrow.
“She was loved in this town,” Ralph Morrow said. “I can’t walk down the street without being stopped.” He told the council that he had received 200 or 300 sympathy cards and calls from people who had heard of her death.
