Woolvin Lee Patten (92) died on December 24, 2006, in Franklin, North Carolina. He is survived by his step-daughter, Catherine Anne Bridges of Palm Desert, California; two grandchildren, Linda (Kay) Walker and Pam Gardoski; four great grandchildren, and his sister, June Patten Sammons of Gainesville, Georgia. He was predeceased by his parents, Nathaniel Murat Patten and Annie Elizabeth Woolvin Patten of Abbeville, Georgia; his wife, Kathryn Dupree Patten, and his wife, Elizabeth (De De) Koch Patten whom he married after Kathryn’s death in 1979. Born in Abbeville on September 28, 1914, Mr. Patten moved as a young man to Macon, Georgia, after the tragic death of his mother, where he and his sister were raised by his father with the assistance of his sister-in-law, Irene Reese. His father, Nathaniel Patten, had graduated from Mercer University School of Law in Macon, Georgia, in 1904 with honors, practiced law for two decades in Abbeville and, after developing a specialty in title law, was associated with the New York Title & Mortgage Company. During this association Woolvin Patten and June Patten would live with their father in New York during their summer vacations. Later, Nathaniel Patten assisted the Roosevelt administration in Washington, D.C., in establishing the Home Owners Loan Corporation and was then appointed as Regional Counsel of the Corporation with offices in Atlanta, Georgia. Woolvin Patten, following in his father’s footsteps, attended Mercer University where, in 1935, he was elected President of the Mercer University Student Body Association. After graduation with honors, Mr. Patten attended Mercer University School of Law, graduating again with honors in 1936, and being selected by the then Dean, Augustus Bootle, to represent all newly admitted lawyers by presenting a paper on legal ethics at the Annual Meeting of the Georgia State Bar Association in 1937. Upon graduation Mr. Patten was appointed as an attorney for the newly formed United States Security and Exchange Commission, serving in that capacity from 1936 to 1941, and then, after World War II, from 1945 to 1946. In 1947, Mr. Patten accepted an appointment with the also newly created United States Atomic Energy Commission, and then, in 1948, an appointment with the Internal Revenue Service, serving first in Washington, and then as Regional Counsel in the San Francisco Regional Office. He remained with the Internal Revenue Service until 1955. During this time, Mr. Patten developed a specialty in handling tax fraud cases and published articles on the subject. In 1955, Mr. Patten tried a case for the I.R.S. against a diary owner and his accountant. The accountant was represented by Mr. Fran LeSourd, a partner in the law firm of Little & Leader in Seattle, Washington. Impressed with the abilities of each other during the lengthy trial, Mr. Patten and Mr. LeSourd decided to join forces by creating the law firm of LeSourd & Patten in Seattle, a firm now very highly regarded for its specialization in tax law, business and estate planning, and other related areas of practice. Members of the firm have become U.S. Senators, U.S. Congressmen, and U.S. Attorney. During World War II, on leave from the Security and Exchange Commission, Mr. Patten served in all branches of the military, an experience well captured in oral histories done of him. The final part of his service was in the South Pacific as a Major in the United States Marine Corps where he was involved in numerous assaults including the taking of Okinawa and survived, and assisted in preventing, numerous Kamikaze attack while also leading amphibious landings. While on leave from his initial training in the Marine Corps, Mr. Patten married Kathryn Dupree in New York who then accompanied him to all of the homeside bases to which he was assigned for subsequent training. After the War and Mr. Patten’s subsequent work in Washington and San Francisco, and upon arrival in Seattle, Washington, Mr. and Mrs. Patten joined St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, a parish they served and worshiped at together until Mrs. Patten’s death and Mr. Patten’s later retirement from LeSourd & Patten. In addition to their activities at the church, the Pattens were involved in various political campaigns, assisting especially in the election of President Jimmy Carter, and enjoyed boating, woodworking, and renovating their Capitol Hill residence. After his retirement, Mr. Patten wed Elizabeth Koch and together they moved to Lake Burton, Georgia, building a house on the lake designed by a life-long friend and well known architect, Mr. Bill Cox, of Albany, Georgia, and then to Clayton, Georgia. After Mrs. Elizabeth Koch Patten’s death in 1993, Mr. Patten moved to Chestnut Hills Retirement Village in Highlands, North Carolina, and from there to private residences in Franklin, North Carolina, at which he received excellent, heart-felt, and very personal care from his nurses, all of whom became close friends of Mr. Patten and his entire family. A memorial service and requiem mass, conducted by Father Tommy Allen, will be held at Chestnut Hills on January 13, 2007, at 11:00. A grave side service, conducted by the rector of St. Marks, at Lake View Cemetery in Seattle, Washington, is scheduled for February 10, 2007. Donations, in lieu of flowers, may be made to the Southern Poverty Law Center in Mobile, Alabama.

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