In Memoriam: Patricia Crosson

February 7, 2022

In Memoriam: Patricia Crosson

Patricia Crosson, long-time member of the Greenfield Community College Board of Directors and a fixture in higher education for decades, died peacefully at home on Martha's Vineyard on Jan. 9, at age 76, after a long illness.

Crosson lived in Massachusetts communities around the University of Massachusetts Amherst for over 40 years and on Martha's Vineyard for the last 12 years. She was an extremely hard worker and is remembered for her candor, boundless energy, intense sense of fair play and great sense of humor.

Before her time with Greenfield Community College, Crosson worked at UMass Amherst starting in 1985, eventually earning her rank as a full, tenured professor. From 1989 to 1991 she served as deputy provost and associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and from 1994 to 1997, she served as interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs. Crosson went on to become the director at the Center for Educational Policy in the School of Education at UMass before retiring and being named professor emeritus in 2001. Crosson also taught at the University of Maryland and Pittsburgh University.

In addition to her academic career, Pat and her husband Charles Adams, a long-time UMass faculty member, led a life of travel and adventure. Avid sailors with little open-ocean experience, they decided to sail their 40-foot Concordia yawl across the Atlantic from Maine to Portugal. For years, they spent winters teaching and summers sailing up and down the western coast of Europe.

On a stop in county Donegal in northwest Ireland, they spied a small croft perched on steep terrain high above the Atlantic Ocean. They spent years converting the place to a comfortable cottage, always mindful of original plans and materials. When Charles died in 2008, Pat continued her annual visits to Donegal, taking long daily hikes with many new friends. The house on the hill will always be known as “Pat’s Cottage.”

She is survived by her sister Peggy Siegel and brother Bill Harrison; nephew Ted Green and niece Wendy Green, and their children Anna and Dylan Green and Kari, Nora and Lars Green-Orset.

A celebration of life will be held in late May at her house on the Vineyard.

Memorial donations can be made to the Greenfield Community College Foundation, One College Drive, Greenfield, MA, 01301.