Patricia Bilson McFarland
Nov. 16, 1933 – Sept. 29, 2026

Patricia “Pat” Bilson McFarland died on Sept. 29, 2026 after a long, slow struggle with dementia.

Pat was born in San Diego the youngest of Cecil and Violet Bilson’s four children. Shortly after her arrival the family moved to Modesto, where the Bilsons owned and ran a pie bakery. Because she was so young, Pat went to work with her parents, and she liked to tell stories about napping on fifty-pound bags of flour. She spent most of her life in Humboldt County, but she always called herself a “valley girl” from Modesto.

Once her older siblings had left home, Cecil, Violet and Pat moved to Loleta where they owned the River Ranch Motel. When Pat’s father died in a tragic fishing accident, she and her mother ran the motel on their own. Mom made every bed with great care.

Pat went to both Ferndale and Fortuna High Schools and graduated from Notre Dame in Belmont. She studied drama at Arizona State University but left to marry William “Bill” McFarland in September 1953. They were married for 52 years, until Bill died in 2005.

When her five children were all in school, Pat started working part-time in Bill’s real estate office. She also took up golf and joined a women’s bowling league. She loved to have fun. She planned spring break ski trips, summers at Lake Tahoe with the Lazio girls, and the occasional back-to-school shopping trip to San Francisco.

Pat and Bill belonged to the Baywood Golf and Country Club and took many golf trips to the Hawaiian Islands. They also played golf in Mexico, Hilton Head Island, Bandon Dunes and Lake Tahoe, and they cruised through the Panama Canal.

After Bill died, her friends Gerald and Georgeanne Coeur put their cabin up for sale, and Mom bought it right away. The cabin already had many happy memories for her, like Fourth of July celebrations with friends. After she bought it, she spent lazy days by the pool with a glass of white wine, watching the wildlife, listening to the creek and doing the crossword puzzle.

The McFarlands were members of the First Presbyterian Church, Baywood, Ingomar Club and the Elks.

Patricia was preceded in death by her husband Bill, eldest son Patrick, her parents, her siblings Ann, Hattie, and William C., and her sister-in-law Mary.

She is survived by her daughters Katy Cortopassi (Mike), Karen McFarland (Jim Gomes), Sara Crabb (Larry) her son Andrew McFarland, her grandchildren Kacy Hunter (Travis), Ryan Crabb, Eric Cortopassi, Hannah Crabb, Joshua Gomes, her great granddaughters Loryn and Eyrn Hunter and Veda Crabb, her sister-in-law Betty Gail Bilson and many nieces and nephews.

The family gives special thanks to Hannah Crabb whose regular Sunday visits with Grandma gave the rest of “Team Patricia” a much-needed break. We are also grateful to Frye’s for helping us care for Mom in her final years.

A celebration of life will be held Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026 from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Humboldt Bay Provisions, 205 G Street, Eureka.