Page 25 - BPWUK - E-news - Edition 107 - November 2022 - BINDED_Neat

Dr Patricia (Pat) Harrison

Ripples of sadness went around the world on 13 October when the news broke that we had
lost a much respected member of BPW and, to so many, a treasured friend.
Pat Harrison became International President in 1999 elected at the Vancouver Congress
having served and contributed to BPW in many roles from club to international, beginning
when she joined BPW Woy Woy in 1977. These included being Vice President of the NSW
division and from 1965 - 67 the Vice President of BPW Australia. Moving on to international
roles, she was a member of the International Standing Committee from 1983 – 1987. Next,
she had an outstanding leadership role as the Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific.
In Venice Pat was elected the Vice President United Nations Status of Women, a role to
which she was truly dedicated, successfully setting up new communications technology sys-
tems for aiding and reporting the work of her team.

Sylvia Perry’s full tribute can be found in the BPW International Newsletter – to access it the link is:
https://www.bpw-international.org/patharrison/

J
Janice Bancroft and Sylvia Perry share some further memories of Pat Harrison:

Sylvia recalls that immediately before the 1999 BPW International Congress in Vancouver, 100 mem-
bers enjoyed a week's Alaskan tour and we arrived back really poorly with "Alaskan flu". Without Pat
as my personal doctor getting me a prescription and looking after me for the next few days, I would
never have managed to chair the Congress, Its good to know who to have as your first Vice Presi-
dent!
A love of music was something that Pat and I shared and enjoyed together in various concert halls in
London, at the Carnegie in New York and in various locations on our travels. Only last year, she
emailed to remind me of a special evening when we were at the debut of a promising young pianist in
Hong Kong, to say he had become quite famous and she had just seen him again at the Sydney
Opera House.
Pat Lunn remembers well the personal connection that Pat had with Bakewell through the many years
that Pat Lunn's mother was a life time friend of Pat's mother- in -law who also lived in Bakewell and
the needlework skills they shared.

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