Patrica Diane Morrow

July 2, 1944-December 20, 2025

Pat Morrow, our sister, beloved aunt, friend, and physician, passed away peacefully after an unexpected illness. Pat was born and raised in Dallas and attended Ursuline Academy, class of 1962. She attended Loyola University in New Orleans and graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree in English in 1967. While in New Orleans, she was a fierce supporter of civil rights. She lived with a group of dedicated activists and worked on issues of voting rights and literacy. She later became a Physician Assistant through UTSW and worked at the People's Community Clinic in Austin. Her love of helping patients led her to become a physician in Internal Medicine, a specialty she chose for its intellectual rigor. She graduated with honors from UTHSC in San Antonio and had a private practice at Baylor Hospital. She fulfilled a lifelong dream of living and having a medical practice in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In private practice in Albuquerque, she practiced medicine with her philosophy that "patients come first". She was committed to universal healthcare and a person's right to autonomy in their final years. Pat had friends all over the country; her patients, staff, and friends became her extended family. She loved travel, reading, Monroe's red chile, and Native American art and pottery. Never one to sit still, Pat was planning a trip to Scotland when she passed. She was especially close with her siblings and devoted to her nieces and nephews. Pat is survived by her older brother, Mike, and sister-in-law Nia, nephew Michael, niece Stephany, younger sister Kathy, brother-in-law Chuck, nieces Anna, Josie, and Celia; younger brother Tim, sister-in-law Barbara, niece Sarah, nephew Aaron; sister Lauren, brother-in-law Patrick, nephews Ian and Gianni, her horse Sonata, and her cat Ollie.

Please read Pat's autobiographical writing from her 2012 50th Ursuline Reunion:

50 years: New Orleans was important for a couple of reasons. First, New Orleans has a personality of its own; you either love it or hate it. It is a very romantic place and conducive to falling in love, what with the alcohol and dancing, all the things Baptists warn against. I had two important men in my life then, but they overlapped a bit, and I ended up backing the wrong horse. Better to have loved and lost…Also important were the changes that were taking place then, and I got involved in voter registration and community organizing. I still have very dear friends there and miss New Orleans a lot. Also, it is the only place I've lived where all the men can dance. I moved to Austin, where I was a second mother to my sister's first daughter, and went to grad school for a while, but got really tired of being in school. I moved to San Francisco, learned a lot, got interested in photography, and made some good friends, making a bare living working at hospitals. By and large, men weren't interested in women there. I spent a year traveling on a shoestring- mostly throughout Europe. I worked in Dallas and became interested in medical school because Vet school seemed out of reach, but by then, I was too old to be considered. I stayed because I was involved again with a guy and went to the Physician Assistant program at UTSW (1977-79). About the time I graduated, the ceiling on age was challenged in court and discarded. Since there were few jobs for PAs then, and most were surgical, I went back to get my physician's license. I went to UTHSCSA (1982-1986) and to Baylor Dallas for Internal Medicine (1986-1989), and ultimately had a practice on Swiss Ave for 5 years (1989-95). When my mother died and my love life took a bad turn, I was freed up to move to Albuquerque, NM, where I was spending a lot of my spare time hiking, camping, and skiing. I knew quite a few people there, but it was really the region I was attracted to, and after a year of temps, I started another practice in 1999. I have two employees who have been with me since the beginning. In 2005, a friend died suddenly of massive pulmonary emboli and left me three horses. This seemed like my last chance to be around horses, but Jazzie turned out not to be for me. A beautiful pinto, she was not well-trained and was a biter. She is now herding cattle on the rez. An Arabian philly was looking for a home after winning the futurity as a 2-year-old, and I adopted her. She was being trained while I was getting somewhat up to speed on a fabulous warm-blood Arabian Quarter horse, Murphy (real name In Your Wildest Dream). Acquiring her was a lifelong dream! Three years ago, I fell off Sonata (my horse). I should not ever have been on her that day, but I was impatient with her progress. I broke my hip and had a total replacement, and am now truly a therapy rider and relearning my balance and how to get on and off without help.

I am looking forward to semi-retirement at 70- time to drink tea in the morning, while reading the paper, time for the barn, time to take more advantage of cultural events. I travel as much as my schedule and my kitties allow. I spend a lot of time with my nieces and nephews (14 in all). I feel very content except for one thing. I don't have enough time. I am still unpacking into my new apartment, built behind my office in an old adobe built in 1890. I have room for guests and would be delighted to show people around. I am not the least offended to be just a convenient stop on the way to somewhere else. I enjoyed the reunion as I never expected, and hope to see some of you in the future.