It is with great admiration and affection that we share this final tribute to our beloved aunt-Frances Patricia Dorris (Aunt Pat) who passed away June 20, 2025 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Pat, the fourth of five children was born May 9, 1928 to Francis and Mary Elsie Dorris in Emporia, Kansas.

Adjectives often used to describe Pat were loyal, independent, talented, adventurous, and fearless. Pat grew up in the quiet of the Pixley Pasture in eastern Kansas. Inspired by her father's love of education, she leap-frogged from a one-room schoolhouse near her home, to a Catholic boarding school for high school girls in Joplin, Missouri.

After high school Pat pursued her passion for athletics by getting bachelor's and master's degrees in physical education. A few years after graduating college, Pat packed her bags and set off to see the world-taking a teaching position with the US Foreign Service on a US army base in Germany. Her 4 years in Germany involved traveling throughout the European continent, sending postcards and souvenirs to her parents, siblings, and nieces and nephews back home.

A lifelong passion for travel had been ignited, and over the next 70+ years Pat skied, hiked, biked, snowmobiled and dog sledded through six continents. Her fearlessness was an inspiration-whether she was skiing in the Alps or interrupting her chemo treatment to bike hundreds of miles in Great Britain, she was determined not to let life pass her by.

In addition to teaching in Germany, Pat taught throughout the US, finishing her teaching career on the Navajo Nation in Window Rock, AZ. She loved sports-playing on a traveling field hockey team, teaching fencing, and serving as a retiree ball girl ("Golden Retriever") for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Pat was a woman of incredible faith and was active in her local Catholic parishes everywhere she lived. She was a devoted sister and aunt. She leaves behind many nieces and nephews who will continue to be inspired by her deep faith, courage and love of life.