WEATHERSFIELD, Vt. – Longtime resident of Weathersfield, Vt., Patricia Ann Standen nee O’Brien, died June 6, 2021, of natural causes while in residence at the Three Rivers Nursing Home in Springfield, Vt. She was born Oct. 28, 1933 in North Walpole, N.H., to Francis John O’Brien and Mary Josephine O’Brien nee Hennessy of Maigh Dhíle, County Cork, Ireland. She was predeceased by her sister, Nora (Nonie) Eno, and her brothers James Francis O’Brien and Richard “Buddy” Fenton O’Brien.
She grew up in North Walpole and fondly recalled raising chickens in her backyard and walking across the upper arch of the Bellows Falls Arch Bridge spanning the Connecticut River between Bellows Falls and North Walpole.
She excelled in basketball and worked at the soda counter and then as clerk in J.J. Newbury’s Five and Dime in Bellows Falls. After graduating from Bellows Falls High School, she worked as an operator with New England Telephone until she married Donald Gene Standen of Springfield, Vt. Oct. 22, 1960. They would move to Hawks Mountain in Perkinsville before settling down and building a house on the Weathersfield Center Road. Together they raised their three children Susan, Patrick, and Shawn there. In 1972, they would buy a camp on the shores of Lake Rescue in Ludlow, Vt., and spent summers boating, fishing, and barbecuing. She was an ardent supporter of her children’s athletic endeavors driving them to field hockey, softball, baseball, hockey, and football practices and games. In the winter, she shuttled her children to Suicide Six and Okemo so they could ski.
In the early 1970s, she and her husband, Donald, founded Patricia Standen and Associates, a real estate firm. She would serve as state president to the Vermont Association of Realtors. She would also serve on many local boards, booster clubs, and boards while enjoying frequent family trips to Canada to go fishing in the Canadian “bush.”
Her husband, Donald, predeceased her in 1996.
She loved being the beloved “Nanny” to her four grandchildren including Anna, Laura, and Isabelle Vogell and Lainey Standen. Sharing her love of nature, animals, cooking, and sweets with them became her life’s passion.
Fiercely independent and proudly Irish, even in her 80s you might see her chopping and hauling in firewood to keep her woodstove burning. She continued to heat primarily by woodstove well into her mid-80s. An avid outdoorswoman, she loved to feed and watch birds, garden, and take long walks in her woods behind her house. She was a good shot and bagged an eight-pointer. She also loved watching Notre Dame football, listening to the Red Sox, the music of Sarah Vaughn, and reading classic novels. Although preferring doughnuts and coffee, she loved to cook and feed others.
She is survived by her children, Susan Vogell and her husband Karl and three granddaughters, Anna, Laura, and Isabelle of Springfield; her son Patrick Standen and his wife Beth Fastiggi of Burlington, Vt.; and her son Shawn and granddaughter Lainey.
She asked that there be no service or memorial, but if you would like to memorialize her, we suggest planting a tree.