Patricia Bergner

Patricia “Pat” Ann Bergner, 79, passed away the 19th of November, 2019 with family and loved ones by her side. She was born in Bellingham, WA on the 15th of June, 1940 to Louis and Jennie Sullivan. Throughout her life Pat is noted as being an amazing wife, mother and grandmother in addition to cherishing her time as a great grandmother. After moving out of state for a few years for her husband’s work, Pat came back to Bellingham and started working for the Bellingham School District where she retired after 27 faithful years. Following retirement, she devoted her life to her family and became an amazing gardener; as anyone who knew her back then knows, she was also the best slug killer of all time. When her husband of 39 years, Fred Bergner passed, Pat moved forward and spent a good portion of her time volunteering throughout the community. She was at the Bellingham Food Bank for 17+ years, was a regular volunteer to the local Lions Club and gave a lot of time to the Arthritis Foundation in addition to countless other organizations. She moved to her current residence in Village at Cordata 16 years ago, at which point she filled various board positions including head of landscape, balancing the budget and overseeing the buildings and roads. If you were to visit, you would quickly witness the half dozen people knocking on the door and the phone ringing off the hook. The Village at Cordata more or less pivoted around Pat; one could almost say she was the “Don of Cordata.” In her spare time she remained an avid gardener who could grow the biggest tomato plants you could find and blueberry and strawberry plants with an endless supply of fruit as well as annually producing a flower bed of colors that were second to none. Pat was the center, the inspiration and the direction to her family and always, with a polite tone, she was the correction when you just needed a kick in the butt. She never minced words and she always said what she was thinking. In her mind, her life hardships always came second to the hardships of others. She would put her pains behind her beautiful and welcoming smile and offer to help. Pat will be missed deeply as she has moved on to a new chapter, in which, she is sure to take on important roles and most likely manage most of the Heavens. She will be reunited with her husband, her parents and her oldest daughter, Laurie Lou Barber. She is survived by her two sisters Beverly Hamilton and Shirley Emmons, her children Chris Bergner and Jenee Riedel, along with eight grandchildren, six great grandchildren and two more great grandchildren to be. The family will host a celebration of life on the 24th of November at the Village at Cordata’s club house from 1:00pm to 4:00pm. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Bellingham Food Bank.

Patricia Bergner

June 15, 1940 - November 19, 2019