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Patricia Kirkwood, one of the first women to earn a master's degree in engineering at UCLA, and who served as one of the first female technical staff members at The Rand Corporation, passed away on October 15 in Belmont, California, from brain cancer. She was 81.
Born on June 25, 1928 in Los Angeles, Patricia was the daughter of Catherine and John Keith from Glen's Ferry, Idaho. After attending Washington High School, she graduated from UCLA with a B.A. degree in mathematics in 1950 and with an M.S. degree in engineering in 1961.
In 1950, Patricia began working at Rand as a 'computer,' and was promoted to a full member of the technical staff, where she associated with the likes of Herman Kahn, John Mallet and many other leading defense scientists during the Cold War. During this time, Pat made early technical contributions to radar systems design and the understanding of charged particle motion in space. At Rand, she also met her husband of 50 years, Robert Lord Kirkwood. They married in 1958 and moved to Santa Monica Canyon, then to Pacific Palisades in 1964.
At the age of 31, Patricia stepped away from her career to raise three children. She was a staunch advocate of quality education, fighting to raise the standards by which children's abilities were assessed, serving as a mathematics tutor to her own children and others, and teaching physics at Crossroads School. She traveled with her family to Mexico, Canada, across the U.S., and to Europe. She spent summers backpacking and winters skiing with her family in the Sierra Nevadas, where she maintained a condominium in the town of Mammoth Lakes. She was also an avid sailor and spent many happy hours sailing the California coast on the family boat.
In 1976, after a 16-year absence from a fast-evolving field, Patricia returned to her career in engineering and software development. She worked as a member of the technical staff at R&D Associates in Marina del Rey for 10 years. In 1988, she began working for Logicon in Pasadena, where she served as project manager for a combat simulation tool used by the U.S. Army as well as one of the first laptop computer-based battle management systems for use by infantry. Patricia completed her career as a program manager at Northrup Grumman in Pasadena. After retiring in 2003, she maintained a second residence in Foster City to be close to her son and grandchildren.
Patricia is survived by her husband, Robert; her son, John; son Robert (wife Kimberly) and their children Rachel and Rebekah; daughter Catherine Kirkwood (partner Kayleen Dunson); brother Edward Keith (wife Sharon), and nieces Dana Keith and Erin Goetz (husband Steve).
Patricia will be remembered for her strength in forging new paths for women, her contributions to our nation, her boundless confidence in those she loved, and her rare combination of intelligence, curiosity and hope.
Memorial services will be held on Friday, November 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. at the Pacific Palisades Woman's Club, 901 Haverford. |
