Patricia Joan Troeger died peacefully with Mike and Pam by her side at the age of 90 on February 1, 2021.

Pat lived her first 17 years in Riverside, Illinois, then moved to California to go to college.  After graduating from UCLA, Pat married Richard (Dick) Troeger.  They were married for 62 years before Richard passed away in 2014.  

In 1962 the family moved to Oaks Springs Ranch in Pinon Hills to raise turkeys,100,000 per year.   This was not Pat’s 1st choice because she always dreamed of seeing the ocean from her home’s windows.   However, the ranch, which was homesteaded in 1862, was a good place to raise turkeys. 

In 1968 Pat wanted something to keep her busy, so they decided to buy Mountain Hardware in Wrightwood. Since she and Dick had built their own home on the ranch, Pat fit into the hardware business very easily.  Eventually, Dick figured it was a lot easier to sell hardware than raise turkeys, so he took over the business full-time. 

In the early 1980s, she wanted another challenge and decided to open the Clothes Tree in Wrightwood in the old pool house on Park Drive across from Mountain Hardware.  She thought that Wrightwood could use a good quality clothing store with reasonable prices.  Pat would say that she would meet Dick during the day at the centerline on Park Drive.

Pat and Dick had always enjoyed trips in their free time down the Baja Peninsula. In the mid-1990s, Pat and Dick decided that Baja California would be a great place to retire. They bought a house about 1/2 down the Baja Peninsula 25 miles south of Mulege Baja Sur on the beach and enjoyed the good life.  As is very typical in this part of Baja, there was no electricity, no running water ( which would be called “off-grid” by today’s standards), but here she could see the ocean from her windows and loved to sit on the beach and talk with all the people that came by.  She enjoyed most talking to the locals, her neighbors, and the vendors coming by, practicing her Spanish (she call it Span-English).  She and Dick enjoyed the slower pace and spent nine months a year on the beach with her toes in the sand and the rest of the time on their ranch in Pinon Hills.

After Dick passed in 2014, Pat decided to stay on the ranch full time again.  She enjoyed overseeing the ranch maintenance activities and driving her car on the ranch roads until age 89.  It was not unusual when someone came to visit her at her home on the ranch that they could hear Frank Sinatra playing in the distance. Pat enjoyed playing his music at full volume since she lived on 100+ acres. When you knocked on the door, there would be no answer since the music was SOOOOO loud.  When you peeked in the windows, you would see her dancing to the music.

Pat is survived by her son, Mike Troeger and daughter-in-law Shawn of Pinon Hills, and her daughter, Pam Coghlin, and son-in-law Kevin of Keene, CA. Three grandsons, Jeff, Christopher, Trevor Coghlin, two step-granddaughters, Sara and Keri Jerzykowski, and three great-grandchildren, Aden, Kallen, and Abbigail Coghlin.

Pat would enjoy it if you turn on some Frank Sinatra music, slowed down, and enjoyed life.