- Born
- Died
- Birth nameThelma Catherine Ryan
- Nickname
- Starlight
- Height5′ 5½″ (1.66 m)
- Graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California, 1937, B.S. Merchandising, with a certificate to teach at the high school level, which USC regarded as equal to a Master's degree. A former professor noted that she "stood out from the empty-headed, overdressed little sorority girls of that era like a good piece of literature on a shelf of cheap paperbacks." She later taught high school in Whittier, California.
She met her future husband, Richard Nixon, when both were cast in a Whittier community theater performance of George S. Kaufman's "The Dark Tower".
- IMDb mini biography by: Dan Lookabill
- SpouseRichard Nixon(June 21, 1940 - June 22, 1993) (her death, 2 children)
- Children
- RelativesJennie Eisenhower(Grandchild)Melanie Eisenhower(Grandchild)
- Shares her name with a character in Tom Clancy's novel. Jack Ryan's wife is named Catherine Ryan. Appropriately, she too becomes First Lady of the United States.
- First lady of the United States (1969-1974).
- Suffered strokes in 1976 and 1982 and recovered fully from both. She also suffered from emphysema (she had been a heavy smoker), a degenerative spinal disease and cancer of the mouth. In December 1992, while hospitalized for respiratory problems, the lung cancer was diagnosed and she made no further public appearances.
- Pat was a nickname given her by her father, referring to her birth date and Irish ancestry, though she also used the name Patricia, which is used on her tombstone though it was not her legal name.
- Her father, William M. Ryan, Sr., was a sailor, gold miner, and truck farmer of Irish descent. Her mother, Katherine Halberstadt, was a German immigrant. She had two older brothers, William M. Jr. (1910-1997) and Thomas (1911-1992), and also had a half-sister, Neva Bender (born 1909), and a half-brother, Matthew Bender (born 1907), from her mother's first marriage.
- I have sacrificed everything in my life that I consider precious in order to advance the political career of my husband.
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