Willoughby Patton was the author of the only book ever written about childhood for Portuguese Bermudians and she wasn’t Portuguese.
Willoughby was born in 1908, the daughter of lawyer Robert Hunter and Katharine Patton of Hawthorne, New Jersey. Her grandfather, Francis Landey Patton II, was Bermuda born. He left the island at an early age to study theology and later became the twelfth president of Princeton University. In retirement he returned home. Francis Patton primary school was named after him.
Willoughby had one younger brother Francis Landey Patton III and the two spent many summers visiting their grandfather in Bermuda. They attended Warwick Christ Church and loved swimming.
As a young woman Willoughby attended the College of William and Mary and also Columbia University. She was married briefly, but divorced. For a long time she lived in Yonkers, New York with a friend, Marion Ridgeway. She inherited two properties in Bermuda, but quickly sold them to use the money for traveling and living expenses. She traveled to Europe and especially loved Italy. Willoughby enjoyed painting and writing, so Florence was of special interest to her. As a result of her time there she wrote The Florentine Giraffe. She also loved Bermuda and lived here intermittently with her father in a house called Upper Nyack.
She wrote two more books, both Bermuda-themed, Sea Venture and Manuel’s Discovery: A Story of Bermuda. Once her father died in late 1963, she stopped traveling to Bermuda since she didn’t like being here alone. Willoughby bought an apartment at Rossmoor Leisure World in Maryland where she often entertained her nieces and nephews. When it became obvious that she was developing memory problems, her family arranged for her to enter a nursing home in Bermuda, because they thought she would be happiest living out her final days on the Island. She died in May 1987.
Sandra Taylor Rouja, author and poet, believes that Willoughby’s book Manuel’s Discovery (about a boy of Portuguese heritage struggling with his identity), is such a cultural treasure it should be republished to inspire today’s generation of children.
“I am struck by its enduring and universal quality,” said Sandra. “Forty years after publication its message is as pertinent to Bermuda today as it was then; perhaps even more so since we have yet to resolve the question of the importance and status of many Portuguese-Bermudians in our society.”
She called Willoughby a gifted writer and observer of human nature.
