Patricia Ann Blackledge Blide

Patricia Ann Blackledge Price Blide passed away quietly in Albuquerque, NM at the BeeHive Homes of Four Hills memory care unit on Friday, 21 January 2022.  Patti was born on 9 April 1936 in Georgetown University Hospital, Washington D.C. to Allan Douglas Blackledge and Dorothy Marita Forrant Blackledge.  She graduated from Mirabeau B. Lamar Senior High School [Houston] in June 1954, and from Rice Institute (BA in English, with both Elementary and Secondary teaching certification) in June 1958.  Patti served as Vice President of Rice‘s Student Body and was a Ten Outstanding Seniors selection. She earned her Masters of Liberal Arts from Southern Methodist University in 1978, and an additional Masters from Texas Tech in Education.

Patti had been a winning competitive swimmer as a teenager and used her swimming expertise as camp waterfront instructor and lifeguard for several summers.  Later in life she became an avid long distance runner, winning the Dallas White Rock marathon in 1974 and later the women’s division in the Galveston [Texas] marathon. Her fastest time of 3:19 was in the Boston marathon in 1975 at age 39. She was best known for her 36-year secondary high school English teaching career and was chosen as Teacher of the Year in 1990 in the Richardson, Texas school district.

Patti’s influence as a teacher was demonstrated when she agreed to be the faculty sponsor of a nascent video club at Richardson High School, Texas in the late 1970s.  Thirty years later, John A. Davis and others from the club recognized Patti for her support; John Davis had produced the award-winning animation film, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius.

Perhaps her most unique experience was serving as the Navy Queen at the Cotton Bowl in 1958 while her twin sister Penny was Rice’s Cotton Bowl Queen.  That experience included a trip to New York City and appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.

Patti married Charles H. Price in Houston in 1958 in a double wedding with her twin sister Penny; Patti and Chuck had one child, Alexander Stevenson Price.  Patti and Chuck divorced in 1976 and in December of that year, Patti married Dr. Richard W. Blide, a pulmonologist she met at the Aerobics Center in Dallas.

Patti and Dick had a full and rewarding 45 year marriage that included training together and running marathons, daily walks in the foothills of the Manzano Mountains, trips to Africa and the Galapagos Islands where Patti swam with a seal, and off-road Jeep riding in Colorado with Pierre and Sandy Mion.  Dick was at Patti’s side throughout the oftentimes difficult 15 years of her Alzheimer’s.

Patti leaves behind her husband Richard and son Alexander, and two grandchildren Zachary and Ariel, as well as three siblings: twin sister Penny [Woods] of Los Alamitos, CA and brothers Michael of Albuquerque and Peter of Alexandria, VA; and her step-daughter Leslie Vert of Sedona, AZ.

Patti’s talents included gourmet cooking, knitting, sewing, telling stories, and hosting family reunions.  Patti will be interred in the Santa Fe National Cemetery; arrangements are pending. Patti’s brother Peter will honor his sister with a memorial badge in August 2024 during a crew shell dedication ceremony at the United States Naval Academy, Annapolis.

Arrangements are pending with French Mortuary. Donations in memory of Patricia Blide may be sent to Rice University, Office of Development, MS 81, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, Texas 77251.   FindAGrave.com memorial 236132509.