What's New: Scholarship Awards, Paint & Sip Fundraiser

What's Happening this Week: Awards Program, Galentine's SUDS,

Patricia Cockcroft was born in Kingston Upon Hull, Yorkshire and it is where she spent her early life but moved to the Unites States during WWII. She has enjoyed sixty-three years of service in Soroptimist and at the young age of ninety-two, was made an honorary member.

Patricia had a childhood unlike we have experienced. She grew up in a volatile time during WWII. By the time she was ten, she and her family experienced nightly bombings and spent hours in bomb shelters daily. Her family kept their clothes at the bedside and rarely slept in case they needed to leave in a hurry. Her parents finally decided to evacuate her along with her friend, Nancy Evans, to the country at the tender age of ten with their gas masks in hand. Next, she traveled to a small seaside resort, Bridlington on the north coast. There, she lived in a beautiful, four story Victorian house with her aunt, two nieces, two cousins, and a housekeeper from the time the war broke out until the time she was shipped to America. It was in 1940 her and her mother boarded a freighter and sailed to the states to live with her aunt in San Francisco. She attended school in Burlingame and eventually made her way to San Mateo.

After graduation and a few years later in San Mateo, she married at the age of twenty-four. Around 1952 a friend invited her to a Soroptimist meeting where they had lunch and tea at the Benjamin Franklin Hotel. She joined the Soroptimist where she has been the secretary and served as President twice. In 1954, she also invited a good friend to join her for lunch who we all know, Violet Richardson Ward. The rest is history!

One of the committees she was not involved in but existed at that time, was Operation Sky Watch at the Disabler Apartments in San Mateo where they took turns watching the skies for foreign planes. They also sponsored foreign students where she remembers the names O.D. Phillips and Benta Arub. They held fashion shows where members of three other clubs, including San Bruno where the ladies would model gowns to sell. Among other fundraising events were antique shows and playing cards. They also had a booth at the San Mateo fair to give out information about the Soroptimist.