Scholarship honors life of key administrator at founding of School of Advanced Technology, Watson School

Colleagues who worked alongside Patricia “Pat” Walter at Binghamton University recall a true “people person” who took her job seriously but also knew how to have fun.

Walter, who died in 2020 at age 85, served as the first administrative assistant to the dean of the School of Advanced Technology — now the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science — and later used the first computerized financial system on campus to monitor the school’s fiscal health.

“Pat was the heart of the School of Advanced Technology. She was among the first hired after the founding of the school in 1967,” said Michael McGoff ’69, MA ’74, PhD ’80, who served in a variety of administrative roles at the SAT and its successor, the Watson School. “Pat was Dean Walter Lowen’s right hand. He, too, would turn to her for advice, and often it was Pat who put the dean’s decisions into action.”

Keith Walter Sr. ’74, her husband for nearly 65 years, remembers how his wife wanted to work on a college campus. It wasn’t long until her coworkers at Binghamton became close friends.

“We often had parties at our house — she liked to throw a party, usually around the holidays,” he said.

In her honor, her family established the Patricia “Pat” Walter Memorial Scholarship, which aids a full-time student at the college where she helped to plant the seeds.

Family at home and at work

Patricia Darrow and Keith Walter grew up just down the street from each other in Johnson City, although they didn’t realize it until they met years later. Keith often would cross the river into Vestal as a kid to play in the fields and woods where the Binghamton University campus stands today.

After fourth grade, Pat moved to Binghamton and graduated from Central High School, where she was president of the Tau Phi Gamma sorority. She married Keith in 1955, and she balanced motherhood and a career at General Electric as they raised their three children: Keith Jr., Kevin and Susan. After Susan was born, she got the job at the University.

“Pat was very family-centered. They were everything to her,” McGoff said. “The whole family was often part of SAT’s extracurricular activities and celebrations. More than a few of those celebrations were held at Pat’s house.”

Bonnie Cornick, currently an instructional support assistant at Watson College, remembers when Pat Walter hired her in 1970 without an interview because SAT needed someone with a technical background who could correctly type equations, formulas and other complicated engineering text.

Cornick found SAT’s leadership treated everyone like equals no matter their roles on the organizational chart, a philosophy she feels has continued as SAT became the Watson School and now Watson College.

Pat was a key part of that family atmosphere in SAT’s formative years, Cornick said: “She was very calming and always had an open-door policy. She always enjoyed listening to any team member — whether good, bad or whatever it may be — and she made you feel very comfortable talking to her.”

When Watson School Founding Dean Lyle Feisel came to Binghamton in 1983, he appreciated the strong team alongside McGoff, who guided the transition as SAT’s acting (and final) dean.

“’Keeping the books’ for the Watson School was no mean feat, because it meant making sense of the monthly reports from the business office,” Feisel said. “She had a computer, such as it was — think of the state of computing in 1983 — and she usually won the daily battles with technology.”

While the rest of campus in the early 1980s tried to figure out how to integrate personal computers into their daily activities, Watson stayed many steps ahead because of the accounting system that Feisel and Walter designed together.

“Pat’s computer was able, almost instantly, to tell us to the penny how much money was left in each of the school’s accounts,” McGoff said. “It was a fabulous tool that projected future income and expenses, and it enabled us to make timely decisions. This computerized solution was well ahead of its time and created stability during some troubling financial times.”

Wise advice with a smile

Colleagues agree that Walter’s warm personality and willingness to listen to people made her a popular staff member.

“It was common for faculty, administrators and students to stop into Pat’s office for a quick conversation, some wise advice or just to see her friendly smile,” McGoff said. “Many of us visited her daily, some even more often than that.”

Cornick added: “I don’t think I ever heard her say a bad word about anyone. She was good at running the operation and knew what she was doing.”

Feisel also recalls her “deeply empathetic” side, especially during turbulent times.

“On Jan. 28, 1986, Pat ran into my office to tell me that [the space shuttle] Challenger had just blown up,” he said. “She reacted to that event as if each astronaut were a personal friend.”

Outside of her job, Pat Walter enjoyed summers at the family cottage on Lake Page and was a member of the Sports Car Club of America, where she and Keith won many trophies for their rallying acumen. She also enjoyed a good card game and was an avid bridge player. She spent hours on family genealogy and was a devoted stamp collector from childhood.

After retirement, Pat and Keith Walter moved to California to be closer to their grandchildren. They completed the San Francisco to Los Angeles AIDS Ride in 1996 on a tandem bicycle. Later, they spent a year exploring the U.S. in a motor home with their pets.

“I’d convinced her that that was pretty nice way to travel because you don’t pack and unpack — you pack it once and you’re all set,” Keith said.

In the years after leaving Binghamton, the Walters made sure to keep in touch with their Watson family.

“Each time Pat and Keith came back east, they would connect with us, and we would spend a delightful evening continuing the conversation as if no time had passed at all,” McGoff said.

The couple relocated to Santa Fe, but returned to California after Pat was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. She died at a Fair Oaks nursing home during the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Thanks to the scholarship in her name and the friends she left behind, her legacy will live on.

“Pat was dedicated to the University and the school,” Feisel said. “She will long be remembered as a friend and colleague.”