Patte Burgoon was born in Columbus, Ohio not far from the ancestral farm in Perry County. A year out of high school she married, migrated to Cleveland and then to Detroit area where she single parented seven children while teaching piano at Detroit Institute of Musical Arts. Her divorce and remarriage took her to the Pacific NW where she became a trained rape and incest counselor.
Patte had been a member of Michigan Music Teachers Association and National Guild of Piano Teachers but hearing loss forced her to forsake the piano. Following two years in Seattle she moved to San Diego, California where she enrolled at Mesa Community College, then on to San Diego State University to earn a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling. She joined a rehabilitation firm in New Mexico where she worked as a counselor for injured workers. Her husband remained in California. Patte was unable to maintain a long distance marriage so she returned to Columbus, Ohio where she retired.
