Pat Montandon, SF Socialite and Philanthropist Who Had an Infamous Divorce, Dies at 96

""From her days as San Francisco's "Golden Girl" about town, to her high-profile marriage to and divorce from Al Wilsey, to her third act as a philanthropist and peace advocate, Pat Montandon led a unique and sometimes glamorous SF life. Pat Montandon, who was once a regular in San Francisco's society pages and who gained a certain amount of unwelcome, late-in-life notoriety as a character in her son Sean Wilsey's bestselling memoir , has passed away at age 96.""

""To me, the city was a fairy land in every way. It was magical," Montandon said, recalling the 60s. "I loved the fog rolling in. I loved the hills, even though I had to walk a lot, which was very hard for me because I always wore high heels, like an idiot. And everywhere we'd go, we'd get dressed up. It was really a dressy city. I liked that. Hats and gloves. High-heeled shoes.""

Patricia Montandon was born in 1928 to an itinerant preacher in Texas and was raised in Depression-era Oklahoma. She moved through a series of unsuccessful marriages before arriving in San Francisco in the 1960s. She became a noted society figure and worked as a manager at I. Magnin, earning the label of an "it" girl and a bestselling 1968 book that called her "queen of California's jet set." She experienced public controversy, including unwanted late-life notoriety from her son Sean Wilsey's memoir, compiled a 2007 memoir in response, and later focused on philanthropy and peace advocacy.

Read at sfist.com