Patricia Schastey Reboussin

Patricia Mary Schastey Reboussin (May 2, 1934-August 3, 2026)

Our mother Pat died peacefully in her sleep at age 92 from complications of dementia at 7:15 p.m. on Monday, August 3, 2026. Her son Dan was by her side when she passed away in her room, where she lived for the past three years, at the memory unit of Oak Hammock Assisted Living in Gainesville, Florida.

She was born in Dumont, New Jersey to John Standfast Schastey (1903-1985) and Agnes Judge Schastey (1910-1988). Pat grew up surrounded by generations of two large families in the area, and welcomed her sister, Carol Francis Schastey, in 1947 (d. 2010). Pat enjoyed sailing and swimming at her parents’ summer cottage on Highland Lake. She recounted taking a bus into New York by herself from a young age to see movies, preceded by the Rockettes show at Radio City Music Hall.

Pat graduated from Tenafly High School in 1952 and studied art history at Swarthmore College (Class of 1956). There, she met Roland Reboussin in Psychology class, where he was incredulous that she worked crossword puzzles in pen during lectures. They married in Tenafly on June 29, 1957. In 1958, Pat earned a Master’s degree from Columbia Teacher’s College. The couple moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where their son David Michael was born in 1960; then to Lawrence, Kansas, where Daniel Alan was born in 1961. Pat was an active participant at the Co-Op Nursery school attended by both boys there.

Pat continued to be active in early childhood education after the family moved to Beloit, Wisconsin. She worked in Day Care and helped to establish a Head Start program. Pat was for years a substitute teacher, keeping classroom pets at home for summers, and taking college classes. The family lived a year in Glasgow, Scotland during Roland’s sabbatical year, travelling extensively in a 1970 VW camper through the Highlands and from Norway to France and Spain. Returning to Beloit, Pat trained Day Care teachers at Blackhawk Technical College. The family drove their camper to Vancouver Island in 1971. Camping took them to Estes Park, the Canadian Rockies, the Shenandoah Mountains, and to canoe on Southwestern Wisconsin’s rivers. Neighbors and friends lived close and gathered frequently. Patricia and Patrick Carroll, Jane and John Bailey, and several other couples were especially close friends.

After the couple moved to Madison, Pat developed her etching and printmaking skills. She volunteered as a docent at the Elvehjem Art Center on the university campus. She gardened at home, enjoyed cross-country skiing, and sailed on Lake Mendota. Travel took the couple across the globe: Alaska, Greece, France (once to see the prehistoric cave paintings at Les Ezies), Italy, West Africa, Tahiti, and more.

From Madison, the couple moved to Fredericksburg, Virginia. It was a welcome change, within an easy drive of Washington, DC and its cultural riches. Pat continued painting, specializing increasingly on watercolor landscapes, and was awarded a Blue Ribbon at the city’s juried Downtown Art Festival. She trained extensively and certified as a Master Gardener. Pat’s all-native front garden was a neighborhood showpiece. The couple moved to Gainesville in 2000 to be close to family after Roland retired and lived at Haile Plantation before moving to an Oak Hammock Independent Living apartment on a graduated care plan. They had a cabin in Asheville, North Carolina where the Blue Ridge Mountains offered Pat a favorite subject for watercolors.

Her son David (married to Beth Melton Reboussin) lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and Daniel (married to Ann Glowasky) lives in Gainesville.  Her grandson Auguste lives in North Carolina, and her granddaughter Claire lives in Portland, Maine.