Patricia was born in Pasadena to US Navy Commander Andrew Morthland and his wife, Constance Morthland.
They relocated to Laguna Beach, where Patricia graduated from Laguna Beach High School in 1956.
As a teenager, Patricia was inspired by the music of Sam Cook and became a friend and local fan club leader. Young Patricia embraced his music and the music of the early civil rights movement, even though her politics didn’t venture much beyond the simple belief that love would win out in the end. After high school, Patricia studied at UCLA and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, England, before moving to New York City in the mid-1960s to pursue stage acting. There, she met and married her first husband, actor Joseph M. Hamer, with whom she had her two children, Christopher and Michael Hamer.
After a decade of rearing her children, Patricia got her real estate license in 1980 and embarked on a long and wonderful career in real estate, where she was one of the first brokers at the newly formed Corcoran group in Manhattan. The firm quickly became one of New York City’s prominent real estate agencies. In 1991, Patricia left New York for the Mountains of Sun Valley, Idaho, which reminded her of happy childhood years spent on a horse ranch in Tujunga, just outside Los Angeles.
Patricia continued as a real estate broker in Idaho for many years and helped run the family business her grandfather G.A. Morthland started in Los Angeles in 1938. When not working, Patricia loved to travel, and she traveled extensively around the world, especially to Africa, where she visited almost every country on the continent that was not on the do not travel list and some that were. During her travels, she became a very adept nature photographer and even displayed her photographs in local galleries.
Patricia was kind, loving and adventurous. She was always great fun at parties. Those who knew her will miss her optimism and loving nature. She made the people around her feel special because they were.
Patricia was laid to rest at Forest Lawn in Glendale, California on Nov. 16.
