Obituary of Patricia Bartell

Patricia Anne Bartell, 81, passed away on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at UNC Hospital. A memorial service will be held at Carol Woods Retirement Community in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Sunday, February 5, 2012 at 2 PM at Carol Woods. Pat was born on May 17, 1930 in Chicago, Illinois. She graduated from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa in 1952. She received her Masters' Degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill in 1969 and attended graduate school pursuing a Masters' in Public Health from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She started her career in social work working at the North Carolina Correctional Center for Women and Coordinator for Special Projects at the North Carolina Department of Human Services. After she obtained her Masters' in Social Work, she concentrated her work on the welfare of children and family and focused on foster care placement, group care, adoption, and child welfare initiatives. She worked as a Consultant to UNC Chapel Hill in the area of Group Child Care services. She was the Coordinator for the Foster Training Project in Chapel Hill and Director for the Department of Human Services Family Training Project. In 1973, she was Deputy Director of the North Carolina Rural Family Planning Project. She served as the Director of Social Services and Director of Volunteer Services for the Chapel-Hill Carrboro Head Start Program. From 1986-1990, she was special assistant to the Dean of Social Work at UNC-CH and continued to lecture in the school. In 1993, she was appointed by Governor Jim Hunt to the North Carolina Social Services Commission. . Pat published articles in professional journals and edited and wrote in numerous manuals and handbooks. She also volunteered in many agencies in the Chapel Hill area, serving on the Board of Directors for Planned Parenthood of the Triangle Area, Board of Directors Chapel Hill-Carrboro Day Care Service Agency and member of the planning committee for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro United Fund. After retirement from the university, she continued to protect the interests of children by serving as a Guardian ad Litem for the Orange County Court System. She also spent many hours in her beloved Emerald Isle, walking the beaches looking for turtle nests and volunteering at the North Carolina Aquarium in Pine Knoll Shores. She cherished the time she spent with her grandchildren and they loved visiting Granny Pat at the beach. She is survived by her son, Eric Gustaveson and his wife, Kathy from Boone, NC, son, Mark Gustaveson and wife Martha of Greensboro, NC and daughter Amy Robbins and husband Mark of Charlottesville, VA, granddaughters Anna and Kelsey Gustaveson of Boone, granddaughter, Kara and grandson, Will Gustaveson of Greensboro, and grandsons, Luke, Chase and Jack Robbins of Charlottesville. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the NC Coastal Federation, 3609 N.C. 24, Newport, N.C. 28570.