Particia “Trish” Short Tomlinson passed away peacefully at the Pearl on Kruse Way Memory Care in Lake Oswego, Oregon on Saturday, December 30th, 2023, surrounded by her loving family. Trish was a warm and generous person who enlivened friends, family, and students with her vigorous mind and caring heart; she also thrived as a beloved grandmother in her later years.

Born in 1933 in Valley City, North Dakota, Patricia Short was the third of four siblings. Her early years unfolded against the backdrop of the Great Depression, as her father, “Doc Short,” and his traveling big band filled dance halls across the Midwest. The family lived in several northern Minnesota and North Dakota towns, as well as Florida, before settling in Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, in 1942. Tragedy struck in 1943 with the sudden loss of her father, leaving Florence Short, her mother, as the family’s sole financial anchor. Despite this adversity, Florence encouraged her children to pursue education, and all four achieved terminal degrees in their respective fields.

Trish’s dedication to education led her from Moorhead State University to the University of Minnesota, where she focused on nursing. Following graduation, she relocated to San Francisco, where she resided in North Beach, attended art classes, and worked as a psychiatric nurse. During this period she married Robert Tomlinson. Their first child, Cara, was born in Seattle. In 1969, the young family moved to Portland. When Trish’s husband, Robert, died unexpectedly in 1971, she became the family’s sole income earner.

Undeterred, Trish earned a Master’s degree from the University of Washington and d Ph.D. in Family Sociology from Oregon State University. Her ambition was always matched by her adventurous spirit: she took her kids on many enlightening road trips across the West, taught public health nursing at Dine’ College on the Navajo reservation, and opened up a private practice in family counseling. Her position teaching and researching maternal child development at Oregon Health Sciences University eventually led to a Professorship at the University of Minnesota in 1984, where she mentored doctoral students and contributed to her research until she retired.

Among her many awards, she holds an Honorary Doctorate of Health Sciences from Tampere University in Finland, two Fulbright Scholar Awards, and Visiting Professorships in Europe and Asia.

Trish is survived by her daughter, Cara Tomlinson, in Portland, Oregon; son, Niles Tomlinson, in Maryland; grandchildren, Nicholas Regan and Raven Tomlinson; and sister, Marilyn Abrahamson, in Moorhead, Minnesota.

A Celebration of Life for Patricia Short Tomlinson is scheduled for February 17th, 2024, at 2pm at the Eliot Chapel at the First Unitarian Church, 1211 SW Main St, Portland, OR. Interment will follow on May 31st, 2024, at 3pm at Pelican Valley Cemetery, Pelican Rapids, Minnesota.

More information is available on her memorial page: http://memorialsource.com/memorial/patricia-short-tomlinson