Patricia "Patsy" M. Aldridge

Patricia Ellen McGuire Aldridge     (12/7/1935--9/3/2023)

Patricia (“Patsy”) Aldridge, a lifelong educator, linguist, advocate for children and women, and devoted mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully in her home in Watkinsville, Georgia, with her 2 daughters and sons-in-law by her bedside.

Patsy was born in Boone, NC on 12/7/35 to Ala Marintha Kilby Young McGuire and Roger Wright (“Pat”) McGuire.  A child of the Great Depression, she helped raise three younger siblings while her mother worked full time during her father’s illness.  After graduating in 1953 from Appalachian High School in Boone, NC, Patsy attended Appalachian State University Teachers College (1953-54) and then the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where she studied French, Latin, German, and Spanish and graduated with a BA in Romance Languages, Phi Beta Kappa, and Magna Cum Laude.  Nominated for a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship (for promising college teachers), Patsy removed herself from the competition to marry Cecil DeGrotte Eby, Jr., on June 12, 1956.  They initially lived in High Point, NC, and in 1956 began summering in Deer Isle, Maine.  In 1957 they moved to Port Republic, Virginia, and then in 1960 to Lexington, Virginia.  On May 10, 1959, her first daughter Clare Virginia Eby was born.  In 1962 the family lived in Salamanca, Spain, where Patsy did graduate coursework at the University of Salamanca, one of the oldest universities in Europe.  After the birth of her second daughter Lillian Turner de Tormes Eby on January 12, 1964, the family moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Patsy began graduate studies in Romance Linguistics at the University of Michigan.  In 1967 the family lived in Madrid, Spain; and in 1968 in Valencia, Spain.  In 1969 Patsy completed her MA in Linguistics and was admitted to the PhD program in Linguistics at the University of Michigan; she declined this opportunity to pursue graduate work in Library Science.  1969 also marked the family’s move to Tecumseh, Michigan, where Patsy began working as a librarian at the Tecumseh Public Library.  In 1973 the family lived in Oxfordshire, England, and in 1975, moved to Oxford, Mississippi.  There Patsy continued her Library Science coursework at the University of Mississippi, which included an apprenticeship at the newly opened University Archives.  She wrote the first guide for the archive, about the papers of Southern folklorist Arthur Palmer Hudson.  In 1976 the family returned to Tecumseh, Michigan.  Patsy resumed coursework for her Library Science degree at the University of Michigan while also working at the Tecumseh Public Library.  Drawing on her archival training, she organized a collection of historic photographs for exhibit at the library.  She became active in local historical preservation efforts and helped acquire a Historic District Ordinance for the town.  In 1979 she completed her MA in Library Science at the University of Michigan; took a job at the Adrian Public Library in Adrian, Michigan as a children’s and reference librarian; and separated from her husband.  In 1983 she married John Watson (“Jack”) Aldridge; they remained happily married until his death in 2007.  In 1983 she became the Librarian for University of Michigan’s English Language Institute/Linguistics Library, where for 15 years she collaborated with educators from around the world.  She worked closely with an educator from South Africa, arranging to send thousands of books to his small village.  In recognition of her efforts, Patsy was chosen by the University of Michigan to attend the dedication of the library in Patantshwana, South Africa in 1995.  After retiring in 1998 with the title Librarian Emerita, in 2001 Patsy returned to the South to help raise her granddaughter Turner Alexis Pascoe (born June 11, 2001), settling with her husband Jack in Madison, Georgia.  In 2012 she moved in with Lillian, her husband Jeff Fogelsong, and her granddaughter Turner in their home in Watkinsville, Georgia.  During this time, they enjoyed many holidays and family events together.  In 2021 she published “Coming Clean:  A Memoir.”

Patsy was predeceased by her husband Jack Aldridge and her first husband, Cecil Eby; by her sister Tharon Young Sapp and her husband the Reverend Dan Sapp; her brother Phil McGuire and his first wife Shirley Maness McGuire; and by her brother-in-law Keith Wyke.  She is survived by her brother Roger W. (“Buddy”) McGuire and his wife Carol; her sister Ala Sue Wyke; her deceased brother Phil McGuire’s wife De’an; and by her daughters Clare Virginia Eby and Lillian Turner de Tormes Eby, granddaughter Turner Alexis Pascoe, and sons-in-law John Joseph Lo Presti and Jeff Fogelsong.

The funeral will be held at the Episcopal Church of the Advent, 338 Academy Street, Madison, Georgia, Saturday September 9th at 1pm. The interment of her ashes will be at a later date with her family. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Project Safe [https://www.project-safe.org/donate/] or Reading is Fundamental [www.rif.org]

Lord & Stephens Funeral Home, WEST, Watkinsville is in charge of arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com.