Public servant.
That’s what Jerry Mumford Patterson’s friends and family highlight when asked just what defined his life. Sure, there are other pillars to his legacy — congressman, educator, environmentalist, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather.
But it’s Patterson’s heart for service, for advocating for his community, that delineated the man who spent most of his life in elected office.
Patterson died on Friday, Nov. 8 at his home in Fountain Valley. He was 90 years old, closing out his final term on the Coast Community College District board, where he had served for more than 27 years.
A celebration of life is planned on Nov. 23, at 11 a.m. at Community United Methodist Church on Heil Avenue in Huntington Beach. A reception will immediately follow at his home in Fountain Valley.
It’s the church where Patterson and his wife married some 37 years ago. He loved his home, Linda Moulton-Patterson said. A fitting sendoff for a man who cherished his community, she said.
Change the world
Born in El Paso, Texas on Oct. 25, 1934, Patterson knew from a young age that he wanted to change the world.
But first, he had to get over being angry at it, Patterson said in an interview earlier this year.
And that meant figuring out how to forge his own path.
Patterson grew up, for most of his life, in Tuscon, Arizona. He started his collegiate career at the University of Arizona, but when he was 19, his father died. He needed to leave school to take care of his mother — no easy feat since the university wouldn’t let him fully withdraw from all of his classes, he said.
So Patterson pivoted, spending four years in the U.S. Coast Guard — and he then found Long Beach City College.
It was the community college that opened up higher education doors he once thought were closed, putting him on the path to earning degrees at Cal State Long Beach and UCLA Law School. And it sparked his affinity for community colleges — and politics.
“You could tell he had that love of public service,” said Rep. Lou Correa, a Democrat who now represents the congressional district that covers Santa Ana.
“He didn’t do it to get rich. He didn’t do it for fame. He did it for his strong belief in public service,” Correa said. “He sowed the seeds for many of us to run for public office, inspired many of us to be in public service.”
Patterson served on the Santa Ana City Council from 1969 to 1973 and represented the city as its mayor for the next two years.
Patterson was then elected to Congress — the first Democrat to represent a district entirely within Orange County — where he served for 10 years. In 1984, then-President Ronald Reagan was reelected to the White House, and voters in what was then California’s 38th congressional district also chose Republican Bob Dornan to represent them in the House.
“He wasn’t bitter,” said state Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, who considers Patterson a role model. “He was obviously disappointed, but he sort of accepted things and then figured out other ways to serve, and he did.”
In Congress, Patterson served on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. He worked on banking transparency legislation as well as refugee assistance bills, including those that dealt with Vietnamese refugees following the war.
When asked in July what he was most proud of in his career, Patterson pointed back to his time on the Santa Ana City Council.
He supported the election of Raymond Villa, the first Latino member of the council; was part of the commission to bring the federal courthouse to Santa Ana and was part of the county’s first human relations commission.
“There are things in Orange County that people don’t understand that he had a hand in when he was in Congress,” said Jim Moreno, a longtime friend who served with Patterson on the Coast Colleges board.
He brought funds back to his district for various projects, including improving the 5 Freeway and enclosing the Santa Ana River.
“He was fair, and he would listen to people,” Moreno said. “That is, for an elected official, very important, and he would go out of his way to find out how things worked, and how he could make things better.”
“He exemplified the principles for which the Democratic Party is known,” said Al Stokke, a longtime friend and fellow attorney. “And at that point in time, he stood out from all the others because of his commitment to public service and trying to do what’s best for the citizens of Orange County.”
“It was so rare to see a Democrat in national office, and I think he looked upon himself as one of those who could present the best of the Democratic principles and provide that form of service to the public,” Stokke said. “He was aware that gave him somewhat of a special duty since the county was so heavily represented by the opposing party during that period of time. But he saw himself as representing more than just the constituency in his district, but all of Orange County.”
Before Congress, before the Santa Ana City Council, Patterson got acquainted with government through advocating.
Around the same time that Patterson bought his first home in Garden Grove, Sammy Lee, an Olympic diving champion, doctor and Korean War veteran, was struggling to do the same because of discrimination. Lee was treated terribly, Patterson recalled earlier this year, and Patterson couldn’t abide by that. Not in his community.
So Patterson went around to various city councils, noting Lee’s accolades and arguing, “How could you be against Sammy?” Eventually, Lee was able to purchase a home and stayed, Patterson said.
“I like to think that I’m independent,” Patterson said in a 1984 interview. “I do things because they need to be done or because my conscience tells me or because it’s the right thing to do.”
And with that mindset, he changed the world, his world, in Orange County.
A heart for education, a spirit of humility
Legislation aside, Patterson’s congressional career also led him to his wife, former Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton-Patterson.
The pair met in 1983, when Moulton-Patterson was working in Patterson’s official office. She would eventually move over to the campaign side, during that final bid for reelection, before going their separate ways.
But their story didn’t end when the campaign did.
Moulton-Patterson recalled watching the man who’d become her husband during receptions. Aides and advisors would schmooze with “the important people, the big donors.” Patterson would be across the room talking to a senior citizen or someone who realistically could only contribute a few bucks to the campaign — if anything at all.
“I was so impressed with that. That was the beginning of me falling in love with him,” Moulton-Patterson said.
The couple eventually reconnected and married on June, 14, 1987, Flag Day. They bonded over their love of dogs and travel — but mostly politics.
“Even though he did so many great things for his community, and nationally, he was so kind and humbled, and I was always impressed with that,” said Moulton-Patterson.
After leaving Congress, Patterson had options. But he was drawn back to education, particularly community colleges. He was first elected to the Coast Colleges’ board of trustees in December 1996.
“His work ethic was dedication, high ethics and commitment to helping students and making the system work for students,” said Moreno, the vice president of the Coast Colleges board. “He was very conscientious of the community college and how it helped students advance. He took it very seriously.”
“The guy was in Congress, and to go from Congress where you’re in a position of great prestige and power and to come back and want to serve — and he did serve and serve well as a community college trustee — to me just speaks volume to his character,” said Umberg, a state senator.
Patterson and his wife, he said, “are role models for what an elected servant should be.”
“His leadership and vision shaped not only the communities he served but the lives of the people who had the honor to know him,” said Coast Colleges Board President Lorraine Prinksy. “Jerry’s legacy is one of dedication, service and an unwavering belief in the power of education to transform lives.”
Patterson, despite suffering some recent ailments, had been determined to finish out his term on the Coast Colleges board, Moulton-Patterson said.
But it was his family that was truly important to him, she said.
Patterson celebrated his 90th birthday less than three weeks ago, with family coming to town from the East Coast. Patterson is survived by his wife, four children, six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“We were all together,” Moulton-Patterson said. “That was wonderful.”