Patricia E. Pressnall
March 17, 1925 - October 2, 2020 Resident of El Cerrito, CA
Patricia Elizabeth Bulov Pressnall passed away at the age of 95.
Pat was born on St. Patrick’s Day, 1925, in Detroit, Michigan, and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota with her champion Marathon Dance parents, Evelyn “Buster” and George Bulov. During the marathon craze, Patsy was raised for five years by her grandmother, Blanche Bulov, whom she cherished. “All you really need in life is one person who loves you,” her grandma said. “Someone who really loves you.” Patty never forgot and she was loved by many.
Patricia was the first woman hired by the lab at Minnesota, Mining and Manufacturing (3M). She met Hugo Pressnall, a captain and fighter pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War Two. Following a three-week courtship in 1945, Patricia and Hugo married on June 1. They lived two years in Hawaii, then settled in El Cerrito, California.
Patty was an extraordinary artist her entire life, receiving a fine arts degree and earning phi beta kappa honors from the University of California, Berkeley. She was a painter, sculptor, dress designer and seamstress. She raised two loving children, Linda and Robert, and later earned a master’s degree in Library Science at Cal Berkeley and became a career school librarian.
Patty and Hugo loved to dance and were invited to join the Kopatchka Eastern European Folk Dance Exhibition Group and Madeline Green’s International Exhibition Dance Troupe, touring California, the greater U.S., Western Europe, Poland and Romania. They became the advanced teachers at Berkeley Folk Dancers and had an impressive collection of music and costumes. Patricia also taught beginning folk dance to elementary-aged children at Cornell school in Albany.
Patricia and Hugo were married 59 years. After Hugo died in 2004, Pat lived with Alzheimer’s and resided about ten years at Loving Care Homes in El Cerrito.
Patricia is survived by devoted brother John (Darlene) Bulov of Apple Valley, MN; children Linda (Curtis) Duff of Glen Ellen; and Robert Pressnall (Charlene Leung) of Albany; grandchildren Amy (Scott) Parr of Concord, Jennifer (Steve) Sanches of Eureka, Noah (Nicole) Shaffer of Oak Ridge, NC, Jonathan Duff of Sonoma, Addison (Alex) Duff of Los Angeles, Steven Pressnall of Boulder, CO, Gabriel Pressnall (Allyson Fujii) of Minneapolis, MN; and great-grandchildren Alana Shaffer, Claudia Parr, Nolen Shaffer, Keala, Ashley, Elisabeth, and Amber Shaffer; and Lucie Pressnall. Pat was also the loving grandmother of the late Erik Shaffer and Bryan Leung Pressnall. She was the aunt of Rochelle (Mike) Gonzo of Apple Valley, MN, and Mark Bulov of Bloomington, MN.
Patricia’s final resting place is with Hugo Pressnall at Sunset View Cemetery in El Cerrito. Friends and family are invited to Pat’s online memorial on November 1, 2020, 2 pm (pst). For more information email PatriciaPressnallMemorial@gmail.com by October 31st.