Don Patton
Class of 1960

Virginian-Pilot, The (Norfolk, VA) - June 21, 2000

Don Patton

He was born Nov. 14, 1942, and was raised in the Norfolk area. He joined GAO in 1971 in the Norfolk field office and developed an expertise in the area of military readiness. During his 35 -year career with GAO, he traveled extensively throughout the world assessing a variety of governmental, foreign aid, and military operations for various congressional committees. His recent work involved investigations of force protection and chemical and biological defense at U.S. military installations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In the 1980s and early 1990s, his work took him to Central America to lead reviews of U.S. drug interdiction efforts and, later, U.S. reconstruction efforts following the U.S. intervention in Panama. In the spring of 1975, while serving in GAO's Bangkok office, he helped close GAO's Saigon office, just prior to the American withdrawal from Vietnam. He and his family returned to the United States in 1977 and settled in Fairfax Station, Va., in 1985. He served in the U.S. Army Reserve in the 1960's and received his B.A. in 1969 and MBA in 1971 from Old Dominion University. He was a 1985 graduate of the U.S. War College at Fort McNair.

Survivors include his wife of 32 years, Judith Edwards Patton, recently of Fairfax Station; a son, Robert Carson Patton of Norfolk; a daughter, Meredith Lee Patton of Lakeridge, Va.; his parents, retired Cmdr. Robert C. and Sophia Patton of Virginia Beach; brothers, Robert A. Patton of Newport News and Kenneth W. Patton of Orlando, Fla.; mother-in-law, Mrs. F. B. Edwards of Norfolk; and other loving relatives.

He was planning to retire late this summer and move with his wife to a home they were building in Florida.

The family will receive friends from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Friday at Everly Funeral Home, Fairfax, Va. A funeral will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday at Truro Episcopal Church, 10520 Main St., Fairfax. Interment will be in Virginia Beach at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the Donald L. Patton Memorial of the Lewis Webb Scholarship Fund, Old Dominion University, 120 Koch Hall, Norfolk, VA 23529.