Past and present staff and students at Queen’s High School are mourning their former principal, who died on Friday — a day short of her 93rd birthday.
Dame Pat (nee Thomson) was born in Dunedin on September 6, 1932, and was educated at Otago Girls’ High School from 1946 to 1950.
She went on to study at the Dunedin Teachers’ College and the University of Otago, where she graduated with a master of arts (honours) in 1957.
Her first teaching post was at the newly established Queen’s High School, where she became particularly interested in students with special needs.
Apart from a short teaching stint in Christchurch, her entire teaching career was spent at the South Dunedin secondary school, where she went on to serve as principal from 1975 to 1994.
Present Queen’s High School principal Barbara Agnew said Dame Pat started at the school as a beginning teacher when it was very first opened.
"Everything she did for the school was for the young women who attended.
"She was all about that fact that every single young woman who was there could be, and in her opinion, would be, successful.
"She made Queen’s one of the first schools to have a gateway transition work experience programme, and she did everything she could to make sure that the young women had the best teachers."
Ms Agnew said there had been four principals between Dame Pat and herself, and an indication of her legacy was that people still talked about Dame Pat at the school.
"She was definitely a character. She was very determined. If she said something, you knew she meant it. What she said was what everyone did.
"She also had dogs and they used to come to school with her. She would open the office window for them to get in and out."
After her retirement, she continued working with young people in Dunedin, helping the vulnerable and those who dropped out of formal education via programmes run by various community organisations, including the Otago Youth Wellness Trust, which she founded in 1996.
She also spent much of her time in community roles, including as a member of the University of Otago Council from 1983 to 1994; as a member of the Otago Regional Council; as an executive member of the Dunedin Council of Social Services; and as chairwoman of the Otago Regional Access Employment Council.
In the 1987 Queen’s Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Companion of the Queen’s Service Order, for public services.
She also received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.
In 2001, she was made a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education and the community, and in the 2009 Queen’s Birthday Honours she accepted redesignation as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit.
Ms Agnew said Dame Pat’s involvement in the community and the school continued right up until last week.
"Everyone just talked so fondly of her.
"She was a genuinely caring person and she was truly passionate about education for a young woman.
"I just know everyone at Queen’s will be devastated by this news."
