September 1, 1952 – November 21, 2023

Patricia McGarvey Rosendahl, 71, beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on November 21, 2023. Patricia was born on September 1, 1952, in Galveston, Texas as the eldest daughter to James Ligon McGarvey and Elvera McCoy McGarvey. She was preceded in death by brother, Dennis Ligon McGarvey, and sister, Kathleen McGarvey Jeffcoat. She is survived by her husband of 47 years, Torben Rosendahl, her five children James McGarvey (Cassandra), Erik Rosendahl (Amanda), Alicia Rosendahl, Jennifer Rosendahl, and Katherine Rosendahl Weissman (Joshua), her five grandchildren Elaine Rosendahl, Clara McGarvey, Lorelei McGarvey, William Henry Rosendahl, and William McGarvey, and her brother William “Bill” McGarvey (Genevieve).

Patricia graduated from LaMarque High School and earned her Bachelor of Arts, summa cum laude, from the University of Texas at Austin in 1975.

Patricia’s first career was as a social worker for the State of Texas. She was one of the inspectors who first exposed the abuses of elderly patients at the Autumn Hills nursing home in Texas City which garnered national attention to the problems of elder care and ultimately resulted in statewide and national reform in the 1980s.

She obtained a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Houston Law Center and was inducted into the Order of the Barons in 1987. She was a fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, and she received numerous awards for her professional excellence, including USA & Environmental Liability Expert of the Year by Houston Legal Awards in 2017, and was listed in the Chambers USA Guide for Environmental Practice in 2015-16. She was highlighted in Women in Business Magazine in the United Kingdom and was named Boss of the Year by Galveston Legal Secretaries Association in 1991.

Patricia was a voracious reader with an extensive library, and maintained an intellectual curiosity which helped her in higher education as well as her professional life and made her a formidable conversationalist.

Patricia was also a lifelong traveler who met her husband while traveling through Denmark. She regularly traveled abroad with family or for work. She was famous among those who knew her for her detailed, indexed, and tabbed (and thick) itinerary binders.

In addition to working, traveling, and raising a family, Patricia found time to engage in her historical and genealogical passions and was part of numerous organizations. She was a member of both the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and, in 2015, was knighted by the Sovereign Military of the Temple of Jerusalem at Balgonie Castle in Scotland.

Friends are cordially invited to the visitation with the family on Wednesday, November 29, 2023, at 6:00 P.M. – 8:00 P.M. at Jeter Memorial Funeral Home, 311 N. Friendswood Dr., Friendswood, Texas 77546 (281) 992-7200. The funeral service will be Thursday, November 30, 2023, at 11:00 A.M. at Grace Episcopal Church, 1115 36^th. St., Galveston, Texas 77550 with the Rev. Robert DeWolfe officiating. 

Interment will follow at Galveston Memorial Park Cemetery, 7301 Memorial St, Hitchcock, TX 77563.