Patricia Kelsey Ladd

PATRICIA KELSEY LADD

Patricia Kelsey Ladd, 67, of Gig Harbor passed away peacefully at home in her sleep Sept 20th.  Patty was born in 1949 in Renton & grew up in Bellevue, the oldest of four children of Howard & Wilma Kelsey.  Patty graduated from Newport High School in 1967 and first attended Western Washington U.  She married David Ladd of Bellevue in 1969, and with David’s job transfer, they moved to San Diego in 1970 where they had three sons 1975-1980. 

They resided in San Diego for 43 years before moving back north to Gig Harbor in early 2013.  Patty finished college at the U of San Diego & added a Master’s degree at Pt. Loma Nazarene U.  She taught with passion at elementary schools in San Diego for 15 years & became National Board Certified, was also an instructional coach for teachers for 3 more years before earning an administrative credential. 

For her first school principal job, she was assigned an inner city middle school that had failing test scores for years & was rated one of 10 most dangerous middle schools in the state of California.   Against opposition, she changed the school to a charter school and turned test scores around from failure status to the 2nd highest middle school in the San Diego school district and changed the culture from one of the most dangerous schools in the state to one of the safest. 

Next, she was moved to another middle school with failing test scores and campus unrest and, again, made remarkable improvements. School districts around the country took notice and marveled, copying her successful loving techniques to improve childhood behavior and learning excitement.  Her success was featured on four national TV news programs:  CNN News, Dateline, 20/20 and 3 times on the Jim Lehr News Hour Show.  Patty’s miraculous ability to inact positive changes for education won her too many education awards to list (but includes California Educator of the Year 2000; San Diego Teacher of the Year 1995, Freedom Foundation Award 2008, etc).  She had numerous articles published in educational journals.  Most importantly, her joy in mentoring children was a sight to behold, and her results were even greater.

After retiring from public education in early 2013, Patty returned to the Pacific Northwest and worked as an Education Leadership consultant for the U of Washington – until her Multiple Myeloma (incurable bone marrow) cancer forced her to quit working.  She then became an inspirational leader for a Cancer Care Support group at Chapel Hill, and also for the many children in her own neighborhood, who all loved and adored her. 

Patty is survived by her husband David, her lone surviving son, Andrew in Tacoma and her sisters Christy Ravenscroft & Karen Leavitt and many loving in-laws, nieces & nephews.

A Celebration of Life Service will be at Chapel Hill Presbyterian Church in Gig Harbor on 1:00 pm Saturday October 1st.  Remembrances may be made to Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 383 Main Ave, 5th Floor, Norwalk, CT 06851. 

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