Patricia Rae (Pat) Cochenour
Patricia Rae (Pat) Cochenour, 71, died on Dec. 29, 2013, at her home in Reston, after a long battle with cancer. Pat was born in Washington, D.C. on Sept. 5, 1942, to Ada May (Thorowgood) Cox and the late Thomas E. Cox, Jr. She married James R. Cochenour on Aug. 20, 1980.
After graduating from Wheaton (MD) High School in 1960, Pat worked as a biological lab technician at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Md.
A life-long lover of animals, she bred and raised beagles for several years, winning best of breed at the Westminster Kennel Club dog show. During the 1970s and 1980s, Pat worked as a potter as a member of an artists cooperative in Herndon, Virginia.
For the past two decades, Pat's creative energies were devoted to hybridizing and growing daylilies in gardens at and near her home in Reston. She was a member of the National Capital Daylily Club and the Northern Virginia Daylily Society, and for many years developed and cared for the daylily collection at Meadowlark Gardens in Vienna, Va. Generous in time and spirit, Pat was a mentor and friend to many daylily enthusiasts. An expert in the hybridization of unusual forms, Pat published internationally and received American Hemerocallis Society awards for her hybrids "Screamcicle" in 2009, "Mystic Pizza" in 2012, and "Little Lemon Twist" and "Idoo Voodoo" in 2013.
Pat is survived by her husband, James R. Cochenour, of Reston, Va; her mother, Ada May Cox, of Sterling, Va; and her brother, William Cox, and sister-in-law, Cornelia Sears, both of Christchurch, New Zealand.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Jack's Place Animal Rescue, PO Box 5, White Plains, KY 42464. (http://members.petfinder.com/~KY191/Donations.aspx).