Pat Grant was born in 1937 in Detroit, where her family lived in a flat near the Packard plant. Pat and her sister Marge were part of the homefront effort during WWII, saving dimes for victory garden seeds, while their mother served as an air raid warden. After the war when Pat was 9, she and her family joined her father at his Army postings in the US Territory of Hawaii and in Yokohama, Japan. Pat graduated from Eastern High School in Detroit. She had a BA in English from Wayne State University, an MEd in Classroom Teaching from Eastern Michigan University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. She was a gifted teacher who taught English for 40 years—10 years in the Detroit Public Schools, and then at the college level at Detroit College of Business, Pan American University, the University of Arkansas, and Northeast Louisiana University. She also taught for two years in Athens, Greece. As a young woman, Pat lived in an apartment where the landlord tried to evict her for the diversity of her friends. She became the plaintiff in an ACLU lawsuit that changed state law in Michigan to end racial discrimination in housing, and her name remains in the law books of that state. She was a lifelong fighter for peace and justice. She spent the best summer of her life in Provincetown on Cape Cod when she was 21 in 1958. She lived in a shack on a dock and spent days on the beach and evenings in intense conversation with painters and writers. She also loved Maine and spent a rainy week in a leaky tent there eating lobster every day at roadside stands. In recent years she revisited both those places, even finding her dock in P-town and her still-standing and occupied shack. Not many people realized what a fierce patriot Pat was, which was why she fought to always make her country better, fairer, more just. Her fellow Arkansas graduate students will remember a famous 4th of July party where Pat picked up the American flag and paraded around the backyard singing God Bless America in her best Kate Smith voice. Pat traveled to many countries and many different states. She loved fiction and poetry and art. She loved dance and films and plays. She loved classical music, opera, jazz, and any good, honest, roots music. She loved Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday, Cleo Laine, and Lady GaGa. She loved cats her whole life and left two grieving ones behind. She loved dogs, especially Mike and Olive. She loved all the other animals, too. She loved the writing of Carol Shields, Valerie Martin, William Faulkner, Nadime Gordimer, J M Coetzee, W G Sebald. She loved reading above all, but lately loved watching Steve Harvey on Family Feud and America's Test Kitchen on public television that will surprise some of her friends. She was honest, deeply moral, kind, and funny. She was one of the best people many of us have ever known. Pat and her partner Elisabeth co-owned Windows a bookshop in Monroe, Louisiana, co-hosted The Book Report radio show, and co-wrote the newspaper column Louisiana Bookshelf. Pat's love of books was apparent in all she did. She was the kind of reader that all writers hope for—a reader who would spend time with a book, give it a chance to unfold and reveal its mysteries, and then think deeply about what she found there. It was Pat's careful reading and insightful questions that led so many authors that she interviewed to say that hers was the best interview they'd ever had. Pat and Elisabeth also co-wrote a comic strip illustrated by Pat called Olive of the Ozarks, which appeared on a regular basis in the Grapevine in Fayetteville, Arkansas, in the 1980s. Pat had many publications of stories, poems, and scores of reviews. After being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in February, Pat continued to have a martini and one Pall Mall every evening, and she remained nearly pain-free. She enjoyed lamb and Greek salad, two of her favorites, in recent weeks. She died peacefully at home in the arms of love. Pat is survived by her friend, companion, and partner of 30 years, Elisabeth Grant-Gibson; her sister, Marjorie K Fronckel of Lansing, Michigan; her sister-in-law, Marika Gibson of Dubai; her special friends Savvas Apotsos and Eleni Hatzigeorgiou of Thessalonica, Greece; her great and great-great nephews and nieces; her cousin Ed Miller and wife Jean of North Carolina; and by dozens of colleagues, hundreds of friends, and thousands of former students. There could be no more fitting place than the public library for remembering Pat Grant, who was a lover of books, of people, of animals, and of life. Those who knew her are invited to join our joyful celebration in the Louis Lock Room of the Main Branch of the Ouachita Parish Public Library on 18th & Stubbs on Sunday, April 22, 2:30-4:30. Guests are invited to drop in during that time and to join in the stories and tales and remembrances of Pat. Jeans and tee shirts and yard flowers and laughter will be a perfect fit to match Pat's spirit. Those who wish to further honor her may make a memorial donation to Ouachita River Valley Animal League ORVAL, c/o Sharpco, 8770 Frontage Road, Monroe, LA, 71201.