Patricia W. Van Ness

Patricia Ann Wood Van Ness, 86, of Jaquith Road, Jaffrey, died peacefully on March 21, 2012 at Summerhill Assisted Living and Memory Care Community in Peterborough following a 10 year long valiant struggle with dementia. Born September 12, 1925 in Peterborough Hospital, she was the only child of Bernice E. (Coburn) and Leslie T. Wood of Brooklyn, NY and Jaffrey. She grew up in Flatbush, Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from Erasmus Hall High School. While in high school Pat studied ballet and horsemanship. She spent summers in Jaffrey, learning to swim in Gilmore Pond and often having a horse at her grandfather Edward A. Coburn’s farm on Jaquith Road where her parents had built a summer cottage. Pat attended Hollins College in Roanoke, VA, and graduated from the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, majoring in history and was a member of Kappa Delta sorority. She also attended Katherine Gibbs School in New York City and worked as an executive secretary in the Public Relations Department of Standard Oil Co. of NJ, now the Exxon Corp. in New York City. On June 13, 1953, she married John H. Van Ness of Glen Rock, NJ, then a theological seminary intern at the Flatbush Reformed Church in Brooklyn. She lived in Smoke Rise, NJ, in Unionville, and in Syracuse NY, where her husband was a Presbyterian pastor, during which time she had three sons. During 1962-3 the family lived in Switzerland where her husband was a student at the World Council of Churches’ graduate school near Geneva. She then lived in Yonkers, and in New Paltz, NY, where her husband worked as a pastor and college administrator at SUNY New Paltz. During that time, Pat began serious Biblical studies with Walter Wink of Auburn Theological Seminary and began her career as a Church educator at several churches. In the fall of 1981, after her children were grown, Pat accompanied her husband to California, where her husband pursued graduate studies at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, where she also took courses and worked as public relations director of the Institute. In 1985, Pat and John moved to Jaffrey where John began his career at MAPS Counseling Services and she became Church educator at the Bedford, NH Presbyterian Church. She brought together her unique form of working with children in her book, Transforming Bible Study with Children: a Guide for Learning Together, published by Abingdon Press in 1991. She also became an associate editor and occasional contributing editor of The Bible Workbench, a publication of Biblical resources for clergy. She earned her MA in Spiritual Studies from the global program of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in 1993 and was listed in Who’s Who in America in 1998. Pat and John made several trips to Europe, making pilgrimages to the Sacred Space Foundation in England, the Iona Community in Scotland, and the Taizé Community in France. In Jaffrey, Pat was active in The First Church in Jaffrey, a member of the Thorndike club, where she loved to swim and dive, and was coordinator of the Red Cross Senior Ride program for several years. She also served on the Board of Director of the Peterborough Players for several years. Her survivors include her husband, John Van Ness of Jaffrey, three sons: Peter Van Ness and his wife Vickie of Gloucester, MA, Stephen Van Ness and his wife Jaime Polk of Clinton, CT, and Timothy Van Ness and his wife Eve Capkanis of Orange, MA.; and seven grandchildren: Eva Van Ness, John Van Ness and Lia Borelli of MA, Tara Van Ness of NJ; Ethan, Gabriel, Michael Van Ness of CT.

The family requests that in place of flowers contributions be sent to the Memorial Fund of the First Church in Jaffrey, P.O. Box 673, Jaffrey, NH 03452.

Family and friends are warmly invited to calling hours on Sunday, March 25, 2012 from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM at the Cournoyer Funeral Home Cremation Center, 33 River Street, (Route 202) Jaffrey.

Funeral Services will be held immediately following calling hours on Sunday, at 2:00 PM at the First Church in Jaffrey, 14 Laban Ainsworth Way, Jaffrey, NH 03452. Rev. Robert Kyte, Pastor, will officiate. Burial will be later in Conant Cemetery, Jaffrey.