Patricia Dobler

• Name — Patricia Dobler • Birth Name — Patricia Averdick • Born — 18 June 1939 • Birthplace — Middletown, Ohio • Died — 24 July 2004 • Place of death — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Resting Place — Calvary Cemetery, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania • Occupation — Poet • Notable Works — Collected Poems, poetry (Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2005); UXB, poetry (Pittsburgh: Mill Hunk Books, 1991); Talking To Strangers, poetry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986); Forget Your Life, poetry chapbook (Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 1982) • Spouse — Bruce Dobler (divorced 1992) • Awards — Brittingham Prize in Poetry

Patricia Averdick was born in Middletown, Ohio, on June 18, 1939, and completed her BA in political science at St. Xavier College in Chicago. In 1961, she married the writer Bruce Dobler, and relocated with him to Iowa City; Exeter, New Hampshire; Putney, Vermont; Anchorage, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and finally Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as he advanced through his academic and writing career. After raising two daughters, Stephanie and Lisa, Patricia Dobler completed her MFA at the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied poetry with Ed Ochester, Lynn Emanuel, and Louis Simpson. In 1986, her book was chosen by poet Maxine Kumin to receive the Brittingham Prize in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. That same year, Dobler joined the faculty of Carlow University, where she founded and directed its Women's Creative Writing Center, a position she held until her death in 2004. Dobler was also a popular leader of Carlow's non-degree writing workshop, Madwomen in the Attic. Her final book, Collected Poems, was published posthumously by the Autumn House Press in 2005.

She died July 24, 2004, at her home in Pittsburgh. She is interred in the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in the city's Greenfield and Hazelwood neighborhoods.

• Collected Poems, poetry (Pittsburgh: Autumn House Press, 2005) • UXB, poetry (Pittsburgh: Mill Hunk Books, 1991) • Talking To Strangers, poetry (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1986) • Forget Your Life, poetry chapbook (Omaha: University of Nebraska Press, 1982)