Patricia Rasche McPherson, a resident of Princeton for fifty-six years, died peacefully in her sleep on March 16, 2019, at Brandywine Assisted Living in Pennington, New Jersey. Born in St. Peter, Minnesota on September 2, 1936, Pat graduated from Northwesteern School of Nursing in Minneapolis in 1957 and began a career as a registered nurse at the St. Peter State Hospital the same year. In 1958 she moved with her husband James McPherson to Baltimore, where she worked as a research assistant in the Department of Epidemiology at Johns Hopkins Hospital while her husband pursued graduate study at Johns Hopkins University. In 1962 she came to Princeton where Jim taught history at the university and she served as director of Princeton Homemakers Services and subsequently worked as a nurse at New Jersey Neuropsychiatric Hospital and Carrier Clinic. Sensitive to human needs and dedicated to a life of service, she was also a deacon and elder at Nassau Presbyterian Church and originated there the monthly hunger offering which has helped feed hungry people in many lands for more than forty years.
Pat is survived by her husband, a brother William Rasche, a daughter Jenny Long, and three grandchildren: Gwynne, James, and Anne. A memorial service to celebrate Pat’s life will take place at 11:00 a.m. April 13 at Pennington Presbyterian Church, 13 South Main Street. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Princeton Hospice, 88 Princeton-Hightstown Road, Princeton Jct., NJ, 08550. Arrangements are by the Wilson-Apple Funeral Home, 2560 Pennington Road, Pennington. Condolences are welcome at www.wilsonapple.com.