Pat Habicht was born in London, England on April 28, 1933 to Hugh and Rene Hinxman. She died in Taos, New Mexico on July 10, 2023 utilizing the New Mexico End-of-Life Options Act. Pat married Jean-Pierre Habicht in England in 1959; they had three children Heidi (1962, Zurich), Christopher (1964, Boston), and Oliver (1967-2020, Guatemala City). Pat had a brother Gerald who predeceased her.
Pat loved to travel, enjoyed learning about other cultures and making life-long friends. After training as a physical education teacher in England and teaching there, she traveled by ship to Canada where she learned from a fellow passenger about Quakers. She saved her pennies while teaching in Montreal and traveled to Western Canada, then south through the United States and onto Mexico City where she made contact with Casa de los Amigos, a Quaker Center for Peace and International Understanding. She joined an AFSC work camp in the countryside and met Jean-Pierre Habicht while digging latrines in San Salvador El Verde.
Pat and Jean-Pierre were married in 1959 in a Meeting House in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England where George Fox had once spoken. They raised their children in Switzerland, Guatemala, and various places in the United States, attending Quaker Meetings wherever they lived, learning languages and the local culture along the way.
While in Guatemala City, Pat and Jean-Pierre were among a small group of Quakers who started Progresa in 1973. (Please see the link at the end of this minute.) Later, while living in Reston, VA, Pat started a worship group under the care of the Langley Hills Friends Meeting, located in McLean, VA.
Pat was an independent person who was not afraid to set new courses in life. After a family life where she saw all the children off to college, she decided to “find Pat” by moving to New Mexico in 1987 to start a new chapter. Here she helped build one of the first Earthships with architect, Michael Reynolds, and then co-designed and built a second one. She became a contractor and a public relations person for Earthships. She hosted her two English nephews (Quintin and Tristan Hinxman) in the building of Earthships for a summer each - a treasured experience. She later designed her forever house at Plaza de Retiro in Taos, where she spent her last 22 years.
Although Pat never saw herself as an artist, she created artworks in multiple media including paper, paint, wood, pottery, and textiles. She also gave back to people by volunteering at Community Against Violence during their early years and Hospice (for 10 years each) and was a charter member (1973) of the Progresa Guatemala Friends Scholarship Fund, a Quaker organization which supports education for indigenous Guatemalans.
Pat attended all of her grandchildren’s births: Elizabeth, Peter, Karen and Cadence. She enjoyed visiting her children’s families whether in New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, Alaska or some far away vacation spot. She visited 52 countries in her adventure filled life.
Pat was a member of the Santa Fe Monthly Meeting and an attender of the Clearlight Worship Group in Taos. Pat was a pioneer until the end, when she chose the place, time, and method to die.
Please consider sending a donation in memory of Pat to the Progresa Guatemala Friends Scholarship Fund (www.guatemalafriends.org). Pat will be remembered at their 50th Jubilee Celebration December 4-12, 2023, at Posada Belen in the beautiful city of Antigua, Guatemala.