Getting to Know Mrs. Pat Campbell
Pat Campbell is a past Board Chair of the Friends of Mercy Foundation. She has a long history with Mercy and the Friends of Mercy Foundation; we are proud to call her a longtime “friend of Mercy.” Here is a look into Pat’s background and how she became involved with our organization.
Pat was born and raised in San Marino, CA. After graduating from high school in 1975 she attended University of Oregon in Eugene, majoring in Marketing. Here, she met her first husband, Tim Durando. After graduation in 1979 she was hired by Pan American Airways as a flight attendant and was based in New York City and Los Angeles. She and Tim married in 1981 and moved to his home town of Wasco where he joined the family farming business. During that time they had two sons. Michael and Mark.
In August of 1999 after a 9 week battle with bile duct cancer, Tim went to be with the Lord. After Tim’s death, Pat requested that memorials be sent to the Florence R. Wheeler Cancer Center at Mercy Hospital, as she and the family were very grateful to the staff for the caliber of care and compassion Tim received during his brief stay at Mercy and felt that designating memorials to the hospital would be a great way to honor his memory.
Pat moved to Bakersfield in 2000. That year Tim's good friend, Kevin Andrew (who at the time was the Chairman of the Board for the Friends of Mercy Foundation), asked Pat if she would be interested in becoming a director on the Foundation Board. Pat fulfilled a full 7 year term, then re-joined the Board of Directors in 2010.
Pat happily re-married in 2002 to Mike Campbell (both pictured above) who lost his wife Kathy to cancer in 1998. Mike has a son Nick and a daughter Kali.
Pat is very active in the community. She has been a member of Junior League of Bakersfield for over 30 years and has held various leadership positions. She is also a parishioner at St. Francis church and is involved in many ministries.