Pat Donnelly Photo 2

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.”

—Ursula K. Le Guin, “The Left Hand of Darkness”

SEAVIEW — Patricia Carolyn McCoy Aase Donnelly, 87, who lived from Feb. 14, 1935 to Nov. 1, 2022, was a unique gift to her family, friends and community. She died of covid in Glenwood Place Memory Care, Vancouver, Washington, where she lived since February 2020.

Pat was born in Vancouver and had fond memories of farm and family life there, even with the impacts of the Depression and World War II. As an adult she loved driving by the old farmstead, her great-grandmother’s house, and particularly the magnificent barn her grandfather built. Her enduring love for the beach began when her family moved to the Long Beach Peninsula in 1944, to run the Co-Ho Motel in Seaview.

Pat was Salutatorian of the Ilwaco High School Class of 1953, attended a year at Lewis and Clark College and finished her first Bachelor’s degree in elementary education at OSU (go, Beavers!). She taught in Corvalis and married K. David Aase in 1957, after which they returned to the beach. They had four children, designed and built “the Ilwaco house,” and were involved in local business, civic and church associations; they divorced in 1975. Pat then worked many jobs, including for the Ocean Beach School District, the Timberland and Clatsop College libraries, and for 15 years at Pacific Telecom, before pursuing her lifelong dream of attending the Pacific Northwest College of Art and obtaining her Bachelor of Fine Arts. Though she majored in oil painting, she tried many visual arts media, and ultimately created a powerful body of work in woodcut prints featuring the natural beauty of the Peninsula, which was her inspiration. In 2000 she married James “Buck” Donnelly, with whom she shared a love of painting, drives to see old barns, and the Peninsula’s history, scenery and neighbors.

Pat participated in the Modern Travelers Club, the Ocean Beach Presbyterian Church, VFW Auxiliary, the Quaker Meeting, Al-Anon, NAMI, Peninsula Arts Association, and Canon Beach Arts Association. A church organist for 35 years, she also played for hundreds of local weddings and funerals. Many stories of Peninsula old-timers are preserved at the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum in the oral histories she recorded and donated. She cared for the graves of family members in Ilwaco, Astoria and Pioneer every Memorial Day, volunteered at PACE, and adored the Kite Festival. A progressive feminist, she attended the first Women’s March (Astoria) in 2017, and worked to get out the vote during elections, becoming the Pacific County Democrat of the Year at age 75.

Pat loved literature, humor, wordplay, art museums, public television and radio, finding treasures on the beach, hiking, gardening and any opportunity to be with family. She read mysteries backwards and wore her coat inside-out. She established a holiday tradition that expanded her family’s minds, palettes, and joy, by celebrating the winter holiday or Christmas traditions of a different country every year. She pointed out the colors in the landscape that one could easily overlook (most often: puce). She delved into family genealogy, and enjoyed heirlooms from the every day lives of her elders. She was a spiritual seeker and a pragmatic optimist. She was the best egg.

She was deeply proud of her four children and traveled wherever they were, to support them in their pursuits. She did the same with her eight grandchildren, who knew her as someone who found the extraordinary in the ordinary — a creative, courageous and curious beachcomber whose smile and laugh invited you in.

Pat was preceded in death by parents Vic McCoy and Thelma Martin, brother and sister-in-law Jim and Jackie McCoy, niece Molly McCoy, nephew Craig McCoy, and husband Buck Donnelly. She is survived by four children and their spouses / partners: Brian and Karen Aase (Portland, Oregon), Mary Ann and Terry Lee (Vancouver), Melissa Aase and Brian Bergen (Putnam Valley, New York), and Donna Aase and Merv Murphy (Vancouver); eight grandchildren (Stephen, Sarah, Anna, Jessica, Kelly, Michael, Maria and Lucinda), and six great-grandchildren (Amelia, Ruby, Gwendolyn, Juniper, Oakley, and Rory Patrick). She is also survived by her brother Eugene McCoy, nephew Tom McCoy, nieces Sue McCoy and Sioban McCoy, and their families.

Pat’s children invite the community to a celebration of her life on Saturday, Dec. 17, 1 p.m., at the Peninsula Church Center in Seaview, Washington. They would love to hear your stories of Pat, at the service or online at www.evergreenmemorialgardens.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Pat’s name to the Columbia Pacific Heritage Museum or Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette.

Her family urges everyone to get vaccinated and boosted to help stop the spread of covid and protect the elders in our communities.