The youngest child of Earl Green, Sr. and Della Lyons Green, Patricia Ann Green was born on June 22, 1930, in Chicago, Illinois.  Young Pat grew up in an extended family -- replete with a grandmother, aunts, uncles, and cousins -- and began life in an advantaged position because of her father's thriving shoe polish business and her mother's employment with the State of Illinois.  But the good times were not to last because of the Great Depression.  Soon after the business failed, Pat's parents divorced and Della raised Pat and her two siblings alone.

Pat attended Catholic elementary schools in accordance with family tradition and graduated from Englewood High School in 1948.  After initially enrolling in the University of Wisconsin with her best friend, noted playwright Lorraine Hansberry, Pat transferred to Fisk University, the historically black college in Nashville, Tennessee, where her sister and cousin had enrolled. It turned out to be a most fortuitous decision, for it was there at Fisk that Pat met a charismatic young man from Beaumont, Texas, named Elmo Willard.  They fell madly in love and secretly eloped before Pat could graduate.  Pat and Elmo relocated to Washington. D.C., so Elmo could begin law school at Howard University.

Pat delivered their first son, Elmo Michael Willard, in Chicago before all three returned to Washington where Pat took a job as a receptionist for a group of psychiatrists.  In 1954, Elmo R. Willard, III graduated Howard Law third in class, and the young family set off to start their new life together in Beaumont.

While Elmo and his law partner, Theodore Johns, were fighting historic civil rights battles to desegregate public and private institutions in Texas, Pat enrolled at Lamar State College (now Lamar University) to complete her college education.  Pat was one of the first African-American students to attend Lamar and was the only one to graduate with her class.  She helped open doors of opportunity for African-Americans and others for generations to come.  Pat earned a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education while pregnant with her second son, David Anthony Willard, and graduated on the Dean's List with the class of 1960.

Following graduation, Pat taught Honors English at Hebert High School for sixteen years before South Park School Desegregation moved her to Forest Park High School.  When Forest Park and Hebert merged creating West Brook High School, she continued teaching Honors English on the 9th grade campus.  In all, she taught Honors English for thirty-seven years before retiring, having helped educate generations of students, including professional, civic, academic and athletic leaders of Beaumont and Southeast Texas. For her extraordinary commitment to excellence and professionalism, Pat Willard was recognized as Outstanding Teacher of the Year in 1975, 1981, and 1986.  In 1983, she was nominated for the Outstanding National Teacher of the Year Award.

Throughout her adulthood, while excelling as a wife, mother and educator, Pat Willard lived her life with such grace, style and poise that, at the youthful age of 40, she was recruited to model professionally for Sakowitz, Neiman-Marcus, and Joske's department stores in Houston, Texas.  During her four year modeling career, Pat routinely worked in shows where she was twice the age of her fellow models.  While she was honored to be voted "Best Dressed" by the Junior Forum of Beaumont, and named Fashion Coordinator for Sears Beaumont, in keeping with her life's vocation, she was most passionate about teaching girls age 9 through 19 at Saturday classes for Sears about the importance of diet, exercise, speech, manners, proper grooming and fashion consciousness for aspiring youngsters approaching adulthood.

Pat Willard's life was a daily example of commitment to something larger than oneself.  Education, racial equality, and community service were paramount to that commitment.  To that end, Pat served the community of Beaumont and Southeast Texas in a myriad of ways.  She helped in her husband's political campaigns of the 1960s for Jefferson County Commissioner and City Council which, in either election, would have resulted in the area's first African-American elected public official.  In 1968, in her hometown of Chicago, she and her two sons marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Poor People's Campaign.  Because of the respect she had garnered through her teaching, and her involvement in her husband's equality-for-all efforts, Pat Willard was asked to serve on several civic boards throughout the area.  She served on the Historic Landmark Commission from 1984 to 1987 and was Vice President of the Southeast Texas Arts Council from 1996 to 2000. In addition, she served on the Advisory Board of Christus Southeast Texas, St. Elizabeth for twenty years.

Among Pat's greatest legacy of service to her community was her leadership role, along with Anita "Teedie" Wallace and Bobbie Johns, in the formation of  the Golden Triangle Chapter of the Links, Inc., an international, not-for-profit corporation of over 15,000 women of color comprised of 288 chapters in 42 states, the District of Columbia, the Bahamas, and the United Kingdom.  On May 8, 1971, the eleven-member group was officially chartered with Pat as inaugural president, and the Golden Triangle Links proceeded to provide an immeasurably valuable service to Beaumont and beyond.  A small sample of their outreach during Pat's tenures as president included 20+ years of RIF (Reading is Fundamental); Project LEAD (Links Eradicating Alcohol and Drugs); and the Links School of Dance (including the Summer Youth Arts Program:  Dance and Photography).  Through Pat's efforts, the Links brought to Beaumont An Evening with Maya Angelou at Lamar; A Visit with Maya Angelou at West Brook 9th Grade Center"; Yesterdays: An Evening With Billie Holiday (featuring Renee Upchurch as Ms. Holliday); the Dallas Black Theatre and Golden Mass Choir; and A Tribute to Black Women with Benjamin Hooks (National Director of the NAACP); The Jazz Age in Paris, 1914-1940 (a Smithsonian Institute exhibition held at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas); the Ebony Fashion Fair (over 16 years); and the 20th Anniversary Celebration of Art exhibit at the Dishman Art Gallery at Lamar; and co-chairing and hosting the Twenty-Sixth Western Area Conference in Beaumont .  As a testament to the vision of Pat Willard, Teedie Wallace, Bobbie Johns, and the eight other charter members, The Links Incorporated, Golden Triangle Chapter is still active today.

Additionally, one other lasting example of Pat Willard's commitment to public service was her nearly 20-year career with the Julie Rogers Gift of Life Program.  Shortly after her retirement from teaching, Pat was appointed the Education Outreach Coordinator extending its Cancer Education and Prevention Program to area churches, local groups, businesses, and schools.  Her mission involved arranging programs in conjunction with registered nurses to raise awareness about breast cancer, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and the effects of smoking.  In all, Pat Willard conducted over 1,000 programs in eighteen years.   In a profile of her written in The Examiner , Pat stated, "I've been fortunate.  My life...has been about helping others realize their potential, from my own children to anyone who would listen. I feel really lucky to be able to continue educating, even though it's on a different level. I am still educating.  I am still trying to help people achieve and maximize their potential."

Pat Willard departed this life on Tuesday, July 9, 2019. The gift of Pat's life is celebrated by all whose lives she touched.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Elmo R. Willard, III, Esq. and her eldest son, Elmo "Michael" Willard; and is mourned by her youngest son, Dr. David A. Willard (Kim); her nephews, Mark Simeon, Esq. (Fern) and Lawrence Green; her cousins, Monica Brown; Stephanie Campbell (Tracey); Shawn Quash; Vaughn Quash; Joyce Willard; Blandon Willard; Joy Willard; Nora Lee Alexander; and many loving friends and colleagues.