Lory Patrick, who portrayed a neighbor of Dale Robertson’s character on NBC’s Tales of Wells Fargo and appeared on such other shows as Wagon Train, Dr. Kildare and Bonanza, has died. She was 92.
Patrick died Jan. 26 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, a publicist announced.
Patrick was married to Dean Jones, the star of such classic Disney family films as That Darn Cat!, The Love Bug and The Shaggy D.A., for 42 years until his September 2015 death from Parkinson’s disease at age 84.
Her first husband was late science-fiction writer Harlan Ellison; they were married and divorced in 1966, and she was the second of his five wives.
Soon after signing a contract with Universal in 1961, Patrick appeared on an episode of The Loretta Young Show, then was hired to play schoolteacher Tina Swenson on Tales of Wells Fargo. Her character lives with her sister (Mary Jane Saunders) and their widowed mother, Ovie (Virginia Christine), on a San Francisco ranch next to one owned by Robertson’s Jim Hardie.
Patrick appeared on 15 episodes during the Western’s sixth and final season, when the show had been expanded to an hour.
Loretta Basham was born on April 8, 1933, in Beckley, West Virginia. After graduating from nearby Oak Hill High School, she worked as a model in Detroit and New York, where she landed a gig on the NBC game show Split Personality, before coming to Los Angeles.
Patrick also showed up on other shows including The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, It’s a Man’s World, General Electric Theater and Laramie and in such films as Surf Party (1964) and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967).
She appeared on an episode of Bonanza in 1967 and did some writing for that NBC show. After retiring from acting in the late ’60s, she continued writing for TV and films, was a columnist for a writers’ magazine and as Lory Basham Jones wrote the 1993 book Hearing God.
After she married Jones in June 1973, they established a counseling ministry, served as elders for The Church on the Way in Van Nuys and founded the Christian Rescue Committee (now called Christian Rescue Fund), an organization that “provides a way of escape” to Jews, Christians and others persecuted for their faith.
In 1984, she directed the one-man play St. John in Exile that starring her husband. Jones then reprised the role of the disciple for a 1986 film. After his death, she moved from Tarzana to Gettysburg to spend time with family and to continue her writing and passion for art.
Survivors include her three children, Caroline (and her husband, Steve), Deanna (Tom) and Michael (Dion); eight grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; her brothers, Richard, Tom and Paul; and her sister, Carol. She was preceded in death by two other brothers, Charles and David.
A memorial service is set for 11 a.m. on April 25 at Mossy Living World Church in Scarbro, West Virginia. Donations in her name can be made to that church, Pentecost Walk or the Christian Rescue Fund.