FAN Bulletin 1053
 
March 17, 2009

We have very sad news to share with you. Carol Patton, one of FAN’s most generous supporters and long term (over 35 years) fighter of fluoridation has passed away after a massive stroke. She was 70 years old and shared her time between Jupiter, Florida and Erie, Pennsylvania. In both places she was embroiled with fluoridation battles. This issue left her little sleep. She was a nurse by training and was one of the original signers of the Professionals’ statement calling for an end to fluoridation worldwide.

Carol with her generous contributions helped to get both Second Look (http://www.slweb.org/) and the Fluoride Action Network off the ground. She could always be counted on to support our projects - in fact she was one the “super angels” that provided a matching grant incentive for our successful 2009 fund drive.

I had many, many phone calls with Carol, but only met her three times in person. The first time was in the late 1990’s when she attended a debate I had in Scranton, Pennsylvania with a former marine and legislator pushing mandatory fluoridation in the state. The second was when she and her brother, Gary Lazo, attended FAN’s second Citizens Conference on Fluoride on the St. Lawrence University campus in 2006. The third and final time was when I traveled down to West Palm Beach county to help citizens fighting fluoridation there.

Carol was a truly dedicated and gutsy fighter of fluoridation. She had no problem calling fluoridation what it is - the biggest public health fraud of the 20th Century.

We will miss her as a friend and as a dedicated fluoridation fighter. Our hearts go out to her family at this time of their sudden and unexpected loss. As always we hope that the time is short between the sadness and the shock of loss and the celebration of a heroic life. We also are thinking of Naomi Flack who worked with Carol for over 30 years on this issue. It is going to be very difficult for Naomi to be stripped of both this friendship and solidarity in this battle.

Pat Moreell (Boca Pat we all call her), another close friend and colleague of Carol’s sent us the following information:

Carol will be buried in Erie next to her husband,  Phil.

Carol leaves a daughter and son-in-law Jane and Greg Cronkhite and their 2 children from the Erie, Pennsylvania, area; daughter Polly Wood and her son, and brother Gary and his wife Martha, from Pennsylvania.

I feel sure that any condolences can be sent to Carol’s elder daughter, Jane, at the following address:
Mrs. Greg Cronkhite
 7140 Pine Gate Road
Fairview, PA 16415

I am sorry to be the bearer of such sad news.

Paul Connett