Patricia B. Learned

Patricia Bolling Learned, 91, passed away peacefully at Rex Rehabilitation and Nursing Center of Apex on September 27, 2022. She is survived by her daughter Toni G. Constant of Hillsborough, her sister Ann Henry of Salt Lake City, Utah, and by 2 nieces and 4 nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband George M. Constant and her sister Marlene Henley.

Toni would like to thank the staff at Rex for the excellent care they provided to her mother over the 4 years she lived there.  Patricia consistently said, “they treat me like a queen here”.

Patricia was born in 1930 to Verda and Morgan Bolling. She graduated from Virginia Intermont College in 1952 with an English and theater major. She taught English until she started to "show". Back then pregnant women weren't allowed to teach. After her daughter Toni was born in 1953, the family moved from Portsmouth Virginia to Arlington Virginia. Patricia went to work for the Social Security Administration as a systems analyst. An avid Democrat, she got involved in the Democratic party of Arlington County and became chairwoman of the young ‘Dems’. She and George danced at the inaugural balls for both JFK and LBJ. George died in 1965.

She married Norbert Heubusch in 1971. They moved to Baltimore and bought a house, a dog, and a commuter airline, but the business didn't take off so they sold it. They both used their own alcohol addiction recovery experiences to help others. They founded the Alcohol Safety Action Project which is still active today. Patricia went back to school and got her master’s degree in education and drug abuse counseling. They moved to York Pennsylvania.

After she and Norbert split, she moved to a sheep farm with her friend Billie and became the model for Billie’s fashions. She also started working for York hospital in York Pennsylvania. She created a smoke stoppers program and elders fall prevention project. She took AA to the women’s prison and smuggled brownies into the inmates in the coffee urns. She taught English as a Second Language in the men’s prison and she started the Emerging Women’s program as a sponsorship program for women in addiction. Many of these programs are still going on today. One of the last programs she started was the Native American Heritage Festival of York which has grown into an international event. Patricia was married to Samuel Learned from 1993-1996. They both had adventurous spirits and enjoyed traveling extensively together.

Patricia identified her main talent as the ability to pull the right people together to create any project and plug them in where they would shine. She was a skilled organizer and was heavily involved in the Democratic party in Baltimore and York. She embodied the concept of "think globally act locally". 

She moved to North Carolina in the fall of 2007 and turned her attention to Chatham County politics. Within 2 months she was elected the vice chair of Chatham Dems and within 6 months was on the board of the Community Church of Chapel Hill. She has a wall covered with awards for her service to the community. Two of the projects she was involved with in Chatham were the Interfaith Ministries, which pulled together resources for the homeless and impoverished residents of Chatham, and a collaboration with the Hispanic liaison to set up resources for the Hispanic community and to get out the Hispanic vote. 

Patricia was an outgoing, cheerful person with a big smile for everyone she met. Her laugh was boisterous and infectious! She never met a stranger. She had a mischievous sense of humor. She was effective and didn't waste time second-guessing herself. She would make a plan and follow that plan. Her life was dedicated to service to her community. She was truly one who bloomed where she was planted. She was loved by many and will be sorely missed.

 In lieu of flowers, Toni requests that gifts be made to the Chatham County Democratic Party or the Community Church of Chapel Hill.

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