Pattens honored as LSUS Pilots of the Year
09/07/06

The Rev. J. Frederick and Sybil T. Patten were honored Wednesday night (Sept. 6) as the 2006 LSUS Pilots of the Year at the university’s annual black tie gala, RiverBend Revue.

“From boardrooms to ballrooms,” LSUS Chancellor Vincent Marsala said in presenting the Pilots of the Year Award, “from pulpit to podium, from classes at LSUS to the cosmopolitan streets of Paris, (the Pattens) are leaders, life-long learners and consummate travelers. They are at home anywhere in the world and revel in energizing, new experiences.”

The worldwide travels of the Pattens served as the decorating theme for the event staged at the Horseshoe Riverdome. Myriad suitcases adorned the 50 tables from which nearly 400 friends of the Pattens and LSUS joined in the festivities. The “Revue,” written and directed by Willis-Knighton’s Marilyn Joiner, recounted their extensive civic and philanthropic involvement in the community.

The Pattens have established two endowed professorships at LSUS, one in the College of Liberal Arts and one in the College of Sciences.

Sybil Patten is a long-time leader of the Shreveport Symphony and Opera. She served as president of the Shreveport Symphony Orchestra board for two years and remains on the board after becoming a member in 1980. She is chair of the Shreveport Opera’s Les Boutiques de Noel and serves as an advisor for the Shreveport Opera Board and Guild. She is also a member of the LSU Health Sciences Center Foundation, is an sustainer of the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier, is a founding member of the Shreveport Garden Study Club and was a founding member of the LSUS Foundation Board of Directors.

Fred Patten is former rector of St. Mark’s Cathedral, following a distinguished and successful business career with Humble Oil & Refining. While heading St. Mark’s, he served in a variety of church offices and committees for the Diocese of Louisiana and the Diocese of Western Louisiana. He has also served on the boards of the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, the Northwest Louisiana Aids Task Force, the Caddo-Bossier Council on Alcoholism, Bridge House, Inc., Oakwood Home for Women and the Mental Health Association.

The Pattens reigned individually over the Holiday in Dixie Cotillion – Sybil was Queen in 1958 and Fred was King in 1992.

“LSUS is grateful for their gifts of service and philanthropy,” Marsala continued. “We acknowledge and applaud their leadership, their significant contributions of time, energy and creativity toward every challenge, and their warm, loving and generous spirits.”