Patricia Heard Symonds ’79, ’84 AM, ’91 PhD

Patricia Heard Symonds ’79, ’84 AM, ’91 PhD, of Providence; Nov. 6. While her youngest children were still at home she enrolled at Brown through the RUE program to obtain her degrees in anthropology. She also played on the varsity women’s tennis team as an undergrad. With support from her husband, she did extensive research in the late 1980s in a Hmong village in northern Thailand. Her ethnographic study Calling in the Soul; Gender and the Cycle of Life in a Hmong Village was later published as a book by the University of Washington. She joined Brown’s faculty in 1992 as an adjunct associate professor in the anthropology department. During her tenure she taught courses in her areas of expertise and mentored several students who remained close friends and colleagues. She is survived by her husband, Alan Symonds ’04; six children; three grandchildren, including Marco A. Steinsieck ’08; two great-granddaughters; and a brother.