Meet Our Board

Patterson Family Representative

Leslie Patterson Buck

This is your Team Member description. Use this space to write a brief description of this person’s role and responsibilities, or add a short bio.

Vice President

Leo O’Brien

Background: Retired Water Utility Engineer, during which I worked with natural resource management and planning. Current President of the local Parlor of Native Sons of the Golden West.

Connection: EBRPD Volunteer/Docent since 2004, and was recruited by Park Docents who were also Patterson House Docents to assist at Teas. This evolved into becoming a House Docent and being on the Foundation Board.

Focus: As a former Foundation President, my role is to serve as a historical reference for past Foundation matters.

Personal Data: I was born and raised in San Francisco from Mission Irish going back to the Gold Rush. My career took me to live in the East Bay, and I discovered the rich history outside SF. Family tells me I look just like my grandfather, and as a docent, I get to dress like him and share a little of what his life might have been like.

QA Specialist

Andrew Cole

This is your Team Member description. Use this space to write a brief description of this person’s role and responsibilities, or add a short bio.

Patterson Family Representative / Treasurer Elect

Victoria Sargent

Virginia Sargent, Treasurer elect

Virginia started as a volunteer docent in the early 2000’s. Her special connection is that her great-grandmother was Clara’s niece. Through the house, Virginia met her cousin, Leslie Patterson Buck. They teamed up to decorate rooms in the house for Christmas with special touches such as family Christmas cards. Virginia was excited to learn more about her family history as well as contributing information from her own family archives.

Virginia took a break from volunteering because of work commitments and responsibility for her elderly parents. During this time, she deepened her knowledge of building maintenance, real estate capital projects, and operational budgets as a property and HOA manager. This industry experience gives Virginia an insight into the facility maintenance and budgetary costs of the Patterson House.

Now that Virginia has recently retired, she is realizing her dream to spend more time at the Patterson house as a volunteer and Foundation board member.

Treasurer

Joe Thomas

Joe Thomas has been a volunteer at the Patterson House since 2019. He has been the Foundation treasurer since 2020. He was drawn to the Patterson House by his long-standing interest in local history and its proximity to his home in Newark. He sometimes tells people the best thing about living in Newark is Ardenwood Historic Farm.