Pat Frosch, social worker, sister and friend — a lover of dachshunds, dancing and antique doll cradles — died April 12, 2026 at her home in Old Mesilla, New Mexico. She was 72.

Pat spent a too-brief lifetime loving and laughing with family, friends, community members and thousands of clients who relied on her professional knowledge and deep compassion.

Born March 22, 1954, in Deming, New Mexico, Pat was the first of six children of Malcolm Lee and Dorothy Jane Card Frosch.

She and her siblings grew up in Deming, and she graduated from high school there before attending McMurry University in Abilene, Texas, earning her Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work in 1976.

After graduation, she worked in Abilene for more than 20 years; first at the Taylor County child welfare office, then at West Texas Rehabilitation Center and American Cancer Society. In 1986 she became director of Mend-A-Child, an agency that facilitated and funded medical and dental care for children from low-income families, serving in that role for 12 years.

She was well known as a leader in Abilene's nonprofit community, serving as treasurer of the Abilene Coordinating Council, selected to Leadership Abilene, managing the media room for the LaJet Classic/Southwest Golf Classic including during its years as a PGA Tour stop. She was active in Junior League and numerous other organizations. Her tireless work with the McDonald's Million Dollar Hole-In-One grew to become a primary fund-raiser for Mend-A-Child.

After leaving Abilene in the early 2000s, she served as program director of GRACE in Grapevine, Texas, and later at Rockhouse in Cleburne, Texas.  In 2018 she returned to New Mexico to be closer to family and served as early childhood director at MECA Therapies in Roswell, New Mexico, until her retirement in 2020 when she moved to Old Mesilla.

She collected antiques of all kinds, but especially loved quilts, dishes, primitive furniture, frogs, doll cradles, and antique crocks. She regularly entered treasures in the West Texas Fair earning many ribbons. Some of her crocks were used in another of her passions—pickling. She often gifted friends with home-canned pickles that became so well-known she was featured in the Abilene Reporter-News.

Her Christmas open house was legendary, annually crowding 200 people through her tiny but charming home in Abilene.

She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Clifton Lee Frosch. She is survived by two brothers and two sisters: Robert (Mary) Frosch of Deming, New Mexico, Ronald (Juli) Frosch of Espanola, New Mexico, Cynthia (Doak) Givan of Crowley, Texas, and Pam (Steve) Riddle of Las Cruces, New Mexico. She is also survived by six nieces and nephews-Jenna, Jonathan, Wesley, Keith, Thomas and Eryn and seven great-nieces and nephews-Nora, Nolan, Mina, Jackson, Owen, Joey, and Malcolm.

Pat loved her family, friends, country western dancing and multiple generations of dachshunds. Because of a mutual devotion she shared with Jack, her faithful companion through her final eight years, her family has asked that those who wish to honor her memory consider a gift to Action Program for Animals in Las Cruces, 537 N. Solano, Las Cruces NM 88001 or online at www.apalascruces.org

Funeral services are planned at Deming United Methodist Church, Saturday, June 6, at 11 a.m. with a private family burial to follow.