Katharine Alexa Pattinson

Katharine Alexa Pattinson, age 90, of Villanova, PA, passed away on January 4, 2025.

Born in Adelaide, South Australia, Alexa was the eldest daughter of the late Raymond and Morna (née McLeay) McAuley. Alexa and her sister, Carola, and brother, Ian, were raised on the remote family cattle station “Commodore” adjacent to the beautiful Flinders Ranges, located then two days’ drive north of Adelaide.

Early on, schooling started with home lessons and then matriculated to correspondence school through remote radio School of the Air. Alexa went to boarding school and graduated from Loreto College Marryatville in Adelaide. In her early 20’s, she earned her pilots’ credentials enabling her to take full advantage of the airstrip at Commodore. She also travelled to Europe by steamship, working in the UK for the Australia Tourist Commission, skiing in Austria, and perfecting her French in Paris with her aunt Spethie, with whom she lived on the Isle de la Cite, in the shadows the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris.

It was during her late 20’s, while working for the Australia Trade Commission back in Adelaide, when she met her husband of 57 years, Peter Pattinson, of Plymouth, England, UK. They married in Adelaide, with a wedding under a marquee at her parents’ home in Unley Park. They then moved to London, England where they had their first son, Richard. Soon after, they transferred to New York in the US and had their second son, Christopher.

Alexa devoted her life to running the Pattinson household while maintaining a commitment to volunteer work. She focused on raising the two boys and managing the challenges inherent to four coast-to-coast relocations within the US, all the while ensuring that the best educational opportunities were availed to them. She instilled the strong work ethic that she learned from her parents and from growing up on an Outback station. From camping in the woods of Connecticut to embarking on family trips to visiting grandparents and extended family in both Australia and the UK, she created a full range of experiences for the family, weaving the culture of her world travels into the fabric of the family. When she wasn’t driving the boys to sports practices and cheering from the sidelines at games, Alexa volunteered in the schools and for a variety of organizations, helping those in need.

Alexa dearly loved her husband Peter, and they spent many weekends playing tennis together and with other couples, enjoying fine wine and great food. Alexa loved the Austrian feel of Stowe, Vermont and the family spent many summers and winters around Mt. Mansfield and the surrounding Green Mountains. In retirement, Alexa and Peter built a home and adventurously moved to Wilmington NC, where they were often visited by Richard and Christopher. However, after a series of vicious hurricanes, they made their final move to the Philadelphia area and settled into a beautiful 1930’s home in Villanova where they enjoyed another three decades together. Alexa’s children and grandchildren will always remember the flying fox zip-line in the backyard, trips to the beach and the spirited evening happy hours that occurred like clockwork whenever (and wherever) they got together.

After her beloved husband Peter passed in January of 2022, Alexa continued to run the homestead, cheer on the Philadelphia Eagles and Flyers and actively study the equity markets. She read the Wall Street Journal and Barrons cover-to-cover daily and regularly outperformed the professional advisors that the rest of us use. Alexa became a US citizen in 2023 was very proud to have been able to vote, for the first time, in the recent US presidential election.

Alexa is survived by her children, Richard John Pattinson (Sheila) of Gastonia, NC and Christopher James Pattinson (Eileen) of Lincoln, MA., and by her grandchildren, William Thomas Pattinson of Charlotte, NC., Lindsey Alexa Pattinson, of Charlotte, NC., Alexander Robert Pattinson of Lincoln, MA., and Emily Jane Pattinson of Lincoln, MA. She is also survived by her sister Carola (John) Cox of Adelaide, Australia, her brother, Ian (Helen) McAuley of Canberra, Australia and her nieces and nephews in Australia, Henry Cox, Simon Cox, Henrietta Cox, Julius Cos, Naomi Cox, Alexa McAuley, Jack McAuley and Julien McAuley.

Services will be held privately.

In lieu flowers, contributions in her honor can be made to The V Foundation (https://www.v.org) in support of Cancer research. Please know that Alexa was no stranger to cancer, having previously beaten it twice in the past forty years. She has been a long-term supporter of the V Foundation for Cancer Research and its mission to achieve Victory Over Cancer ® .