Pattie Ireland Tornabene

MISSOULAâ�,��**– Patricia Lynn Ireland was born Nov. 16, 1945, in Sacramento, Calif., to Wayne and Winona Ireland of Winters, Calif. Pattie graduated from Winters High School in 1963, attended the University of California at Davis for two years and went on to receive her Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education and English from Sacramento State University in 1968.

In the fall of 1968, she became an English and physical education teacher at Esparto High School. Pattie also coached varsity tennis, field hockey and basketball.

In 1970, she married Jim Naekel and moved to Woodland, Calif. Pattie gave birth to daughter Heidi in 1973 and son John in 1977. Pattie also helped start a family-owned self-storage business in 1973.

In 1986, Pattie and her children moved to Missoula. She fell in love with western Montana and bought a home in the Lincolnwood neighborhood on Rattlesnake Creek in 1987. Pattie lived at her home on Fox Farm Road for 26 years, and cherished her neighbors and her beautiful backyard. She never took her surroundings for granted, and loved to walk in the woods with her dogs almost every day, throughout the Rattlesnake wilderness.

Pattie married C.J. Tornabene on May 26, 1991. The pair met playing tennis, where they became a successful mixed doubles team for years. They won countless tournaments in mixed doubles and on their respective USTA teams. They loved spending time on their sailboat at Flathead Lake, as well as sailing anywhere they traveled. They scuba dived in Mexico, the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, the Cayman Islands, Honduras and Hawaii. They attended both the U.S. Open in New York and the French Open in Paris together. No matter where they traveled throughout the years, almost every vacation was an appropriate balance of tennis, the outdoors and water.

Pattie was an exceptional athlete in high school, where she competed in field hockey, tennis, track, basketball and volleyball. She played collegiate field hockey and tennis at UC-Davis. She was an active tennis player, golfer and skier her entire life. She was immensely competitive and never ashamed of her love of winning. She returned to tennis coaching in Missoula, running the Loyola Sacred Heart tennis program from 1993 to 1998.

When Pattie wasn't out enjoying the beauty of Montana or playing sports, she enjoyed nothing more than hosting guests at her home. She was a gourmet cook and an incredible hostess – someone who always took great joy in pleasing and providing for others. Pattie had an innate ability to connect with everyone she met, and simply loved to learn about people. She was an exceptional listener and contagiously upbeat. Even when her health wasn't cooperating, she maintained a unique gift to put others at ease the moment they stepped through her front door.

Pattie was an active volunteer in various organizations through the years. In her life, she was a proud PEO member, a volunteer for Camp Mak-A-Dream, Meals on Wheels, the Missoula Battered Women's Shelter, University of Montana foreign exchange program and Loyola BASH, and was a contributor to countless other causes.

Pattie loved Montana Grizzlies football from the day she arrived in Missoula. She first attended games in the fall of 1986 and was a season ticket holder at Washington-Grizzly Stadium the following year. She attended nearly every home game in the past 26 years, many road games and the 2001 national championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn. – her proudest moment as a Griz fan.

Pattie Ireland Tornabene passed away in her home Monday, March 11, 2013, after an incredibly courageous and hard-fought two-year battle with pancreatic cancer. She is survived by her loving husband and best friend, C.J. Tornabene; her daughter, Heidi Schreiber; her son, John Naekel; her grandson, Owen; stepdaughter, Dana Tornabene; stepson, Tyler Tornabene; and her two beloved dogs, Brewster and Buckley.

She leaves the world a better place than she found it – as a remarkable wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, coach, mentor, volunteer, hostess, cook, neighbor and friend. A celebration of Pattie's life will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 17, at the Holiday Inn in downtown Missoula.

In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to Camp Mak-A-Dream or the cancer center at St. Patrick Hospital.

Read Pattie Tornabene's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.