Patricia Abelard Andersen

Patricia was born in 1948 in Chula Vista, California to Laurence and Edith Blomquist Abelard. She graduated from Sweetwater High School, and San Diego State College (now University) in 1971, where she was advanced to candidacy for an MBA before moving to Frederick, Maryland, with her husband, Robert Andersen, a fifth generation Californian. She first worked as a medical logistician at the US Army Medical Agency on Fort Detrick, for 2 years, before pursuing genealogy as a researcher in Frederick, and working part time at the Washington Post in Advertising (doing death notices and marriage announcements - paid advertising) until taking a buyout, and getting a paralegal certificate at Georgetown University. In the meanwhile, she had been volunteering in the library at the Montgomery County Historical Society, who then offered her the position of Librarian. In total she served 10 years as a volunteer and 20 years on staff, before retiring in 2018. In 2019 she moved to St. Louis to live nearer to family, and in 2022 finally began preparing her own family genealogy, compiling over 50 years of research.