Patricia (Scott) Aho

Patricia Aho

Patricia Scott Aho, of Amherst, died on April 17, 2021. The cause was pneumonitis, which developed after treatment for lymphoma was delayed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. She was 85.

Pat was born in 1935 in Portland, Oregon, the only child of Gray Light and William Scott, and raised in Portland and Seattle. She graduated from Grant High School, in Portland, and received a bachelor’s degree in English and education in 1958 from Portland State University. There she met Gary Aho, a fellow English major struck by her intelligence, humor, and “great, skier legs.”

They married in 1959, and both taught high school English before moving with their newborn son, Kriss, to Eugene in 1960 so Gary could pursue a doctorate at the University of Oregon. Pat worked days in administration, and stayed up late proofing and typing Gary’s papers. One night, while retyping his dissertation, she fell asleep in the bathroom.

They turned in Gary’s work just in time to welcome a second child, Karen, and to drive east, in 1966, to Amherst, where Gary had accepted a job as an English professor at the University of Massachusetts.

Pat did not like to sit still. Nor did she procrastinate or whine. Instead, she did the job, always well and nearly always with enthusiasm. If she saw the house needed new stain, she got up on the ladder, that weekend. Cooking may have been the lone exception. While she made her husband’s meals and ironed his shirts, she believed girls should be taught wood and auto shop, not home economics. When her daughter had to make a complete family dinner for an 8th-grade home-econ final and chose only to heat up a box of macaroni and cheese, Pat gave the meal an ‘A,’ over Gary’s (hungry) objection. “She doesn’t need to learn how to cook!” she said.

If anything, Pat was versatile, and game for adventure. When Gary received a Fulbright Scholarship to Iceland in 1964, Pat found work at the international school in Reykjavik, and planned a summer camping trip across Europe. When Gary took the family on academic exchanges to Germany, Pat studied the language and, once home, earned a master’s degree in German from UMass. When they took another yearlong academic exchange to London, Pat got a job testing board games and, back home, created a new game, which she hand-painted on wood and called Junior Monopoly. Instead of buying real estate, young players visited fun places; instead of jail, they went to the hospital. Pat sent the idea to Parker Brothers, but the company declined, only to debut its own Monopoly Junior several years later.

No mind. Pat had plenty of other activities. She had learned the ancient craft of church bell ringing in England, and continued playing in the Pioneer Valley. She had collected original Victorian tiles at London antique shops and, thinking they would look nice in a table, signed up for a woodworking class at the Amherst junior high school. She built the 8-foot table, admired and used to this day, then a butcher block island and table, cabinets, a sofa, and much more. She crafted toy blocks to give friends’ children, and filled her family’s home with furniture as beautiful and sturdy as she.

Throughout, Pat worked. She served in government relations at Amherst College, and in her 50s returned to school to become a paralegal, working at law firms in Springfield, Honolulu, Portland, and Boston until her retirement at age 81. She read voraciously; shrieked loud enough to alert the neighbors when the Boston Red Sox scored; skied; played softball; and remained an enthusiastic swimmer and golfer — and member of the hole-in-one club — until the 2020 quarantine. Only COVID-19 could keep her on her stool.

Pat claimed she was not talented, despite her many talents — folk-art painting among them. Privately, she would giddily show off her ability to remember phone numbers, and throughout her life served as the family’s go-to person for questions of grammar, etiquette, and ethics. What people did, she thought, mattered.

In 1985, surely tired of hearing herself complain, Pat ran for Amherst Town Meeting and received 159 votes, more than any other winner. Always preferring to laugh at herself rather than accept a compliment, Pat told a reporter, “I’m not sure I know 159 people anywhere in town.” A family member once lovingly described Pat as akin to a young dog: full of energy, always living in the moment, and excited by the small things. It was a compliment, for Pat loved dogs above all else, often remarking, “I have to wonder about people who don’t have dogs.”

Gary Aho, her husband of 59 years, died in 2019. Pat is survived by a son, Kriss (Cathy); a daughter, Karen; two grandchildren, Lucas and Tess; and the last of 11 dogs, Lizzie and Sam. A service will be held at a later date. If you would like to honor Pat’s memory, please consider making a donation to the SPCA or your local animal shelter.

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