Pat grew up in San Bernardino, one of 7 siblings to parents who are both 91 and still going strong! She went to college at San Diego State and The University of San Diego and went on many excursions into Mexico with friends. She developed her love for Mexico and the people living there during those trips. She always noticed that no matter how dire their circumstances seemed, they always seemed to be joyous whether they were singing, watching their kids play soccer, or splashing around in the ocean with the whole family and laughing hysterically. Thinking about the positive outlook of the financially struggling Mexicans left an indelible impression on Pat. She had a wonderful legal career working for agricultural producers from the U.S. and Mexico and, most recently, arbitrates agricultural disputes between parties who are NAFTA members. 

     Pat and her Lead Builder husband, Jimmy, have a small home in Rosarito and hold Mexican green cards. They love the people in Mexico but are saddened by the corruption of some in positions of authority. They got involved in Corazón about 23 years ago through their parish St. Simon and Jude in Huntington Beach where their kids attended school. Parishioners gathered shoes and clothing that were needed in Mexico and Pat and Jimmy accompanied their kids to Mexico for Corazón's community Christmas parties. When Pat asked her husband what he wanted to do for his 50th birthday, he said he wanted to gather friends together to sponsor a house build after which they would go to dinner in Rosarito and listen to mariachi music. Pat and Jimmy caught the bug to build a house for a family in a day and since then have sponsored several house builds and worked on many more. Pat cannot think of any Saturday that she has made better use of her time than a Saturday building a house for a family through Corazón. She loves participating in Corazon’s house builds and is amazed to see that some of Corazón's local Mexican Blue Shirts are grandmas in their 60s up on the roof pounding nails. 

     Pat's favorite Corazón experience is when the house is built, keys are handed to the family and everyone begins to cry tears of joy. She would like our wonderful neighbors in Mexico to know many people in the United States love them, even though it seems that some of our leaders do not share that sentiment.