February 5, 1954 — August 8, 2025
In Memoriam
It has been almost a year since we lost Patti. A month before she passed, she allowed Mark B and Lynne V to interview her. It was a profoundly moving conversation and her last gift to the program and fellowship she loved with every fiber of her being.
Karin B:
Most of the people I know speak reactively, snappily, and without a drawl.
Patti did not. She was a listener and a thoughtful responder. For the first three years that we knew her in the online after-meeting, the Parking Lot, Patti dragged slowly on her cigarette in between the comments of others – gazing pointedly, and then would say, “Well…ya know…” and then there was this pause. Foolish people assumed she was finished and that they could interrupt. She’d continue firmly but still thoughtfully…”What I’m saying is…(extended pause). “ Then she quit smoking, but not pausing.
Patti ran the Parking Lot (the meeting after the meeting). She was the glue and the mayor. Our Mayor. Mayors run the city. We defer to them because they are experts. And Patti was ours.
Patti knew tech, and we didn’t.
In 2020, the world shut down. People became isolated in their own homes. Dangerous stuff, as it is said that ‘an addict alone is in bad company.” We were afraid of a virus that would kill millions. So, Patti pulled herself up and used her technical acumen to coach us, to be available, to keep virtual spaces open, to help us stay clean. This was her service. This was her program, and she worked it every single day for five years. Although Patti had been around as long as many of us, she was starting over. In doing so, she made it possible for over 100 addicts around the world to have a place, to be safe…to say the hardest secret things…to not be alone. We were not alone. We were in the great, caring company of Patti Rankin. Our hero. Our Keeper of Deep Secrets. Our Mayor. And our Beloved friend.
We stand in the Parking Lot gob smacked at our loss, yet, in profound gratitude, celebrate her life.
Mark B, Lynne V
When I met Mark B (in Naples in 2017, for the birth of what has become Preserving the Message), Mark was already friends with Patti and had been for quite some time. They served together at the Georgia Region and Mark will always say that if Patti wasn’t there to take notes for him, he would have been lost. Their friendship began when Patti moved to Georgia, grew through doing service, deepened while Mark sponsored Patti’s husband, survived Patti’s relapse, and was renewed upon Patti’s return to recovery during Covid and Zoom meetings which they attended together.
Patti is an unforgettable force of nature. Quiet but not timid, strong but not rigid, smart but not arrogant, Patti possessed a unique personality. Funny, kind, compassionate, nurturing, humble, and honest.
She had many interests to challenge her love of learning new things and testing her abilities, like quilting and when asked to use her considerable skills as a Director on the Board of Preserving the Message, there was only a little hesitation. Her contributions to Preserving the Message were valuable.
Being her friend was always a gratifying, joyful experience. Whatever was unfolding in her life during the time I got to call her my friend – her return to recovery, the end of her marriage, the move to Texas, her cancer diagnosis – she was always honest about herself and desirous of knowing how you were doing, too. I learned a lot from my conversations with her.
We will miss her. It was a gift and an honor to have her in our lives.