After Patricia Dowd died at home suddenly on Feb. 6 at the age of 57, her family was in shock. The woman was in seemingly good health, so the coroner’s explanation was all they had: A massive heart attack likely killed her before she hit the floor.
This week came another round of jarring news: Dowd was infected with the coronavirus at the time of her death. She is the first person in the U.S. known to have died from COVID-19.
“There were no symptoms, nothing,” Dowd’s father told The Chronicle on Thursday, standing on the porch of the Mountain View home where he raised Dowd and her three siblings.
The Chronicle, in accordance with its anonymous source policy, agreed to withhold the name of Dowd’s father over concerns about his privacy. He said his daughter got regular health checkups as part of her job. She was an auditor for Fremont semiconductor company Lam Research and traveled across the U.S. and around the globe.
“Because she had to travel, (her company) had her get checkups by doctors. So her blood pressure and everything was fine,” he said.
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Santa Clara County Health Officer Dr. Sara Cody said this week that neither Dowd — nor the two other people whose cases were classified as early coronavirus deaths — had traveled outside of the country shortly before their deaths.
Dowd’s father said his family is navigating life without Dowd and amid the stay-home orders that makes gatherings impossible. The family observed Easter Sunday on Zoom, he said, with family members signing in to the video gathering from their respective homes. Dowd lived in San Jose with her husband and adult daughter.
Before the orders were put in place, the family hosted a memorial service for Dowd at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Mountain View, where so many people packed the pews that some visitors had to stand. Mourners shared stories of Dowd’s easy smile, her laugh, and her friendship.
On Thursday, Dowd’s father leaned against the curved entryway to his home and reminisced about the last major holidays she spent with the family. On Thanksgiving, the family packed into her San Jose home while she cooked two turkeys, one oven roasted and one deep-fried. She cooked the turkey every year, her father said. On Christmas, the family filled into his Mountain View home, where she cooked homemade split pea soup and lentil soup with leftover turkey — a family recipe that has been handed down through generations.
“We were just talking, laughing, remembering all the bad things they did as teenagers,” Dowd’s father said with a chuckle, his eyes blinking away tears. “She was a good daughter. I was lucky.”
Dowd, who he has lovingly called “my general” since she was a young teen, had always moved with bouncy energy since she was a child growing up in Mountain View.
“She wasn’t bossy, but when she says something, everybody pays attention,” Dowd said with a smile.
When she wasn’t traveling, Dowd would either bring her father a meal every Thursday, or take him to a local restaurant to eat. The years-long tradition brought him joy, he said, because they would talk over healthy foods — like chicken and vegetables — and she would share the latest news at her job.
“Of course I didn’t understand what she was talking about, but I always agreed,” he said nodding, pantomiming him listening with a chuckle.
Dowd’s adult daughter now wants to continue that tradition, he said.
“I said, ‘Oh you have your father to take care of now,’ and she said, ‘Oh, it’s one day a week.’ And I said, ‘OK, that’s fine.’”
Dowd was born Oct. 8, 1962, and her parents were one of the first Latino families in the Mountain View area, said family friend Cerafin Castillo. Dowd’s parents helped out Castillo’s immigrant mother.
“I can’t tell you how much her family has done for my family,” Castillo said.
A year behind Dowd, Castillo attended St. Joseph Elementary School and St. Francis High School with her. What she lacked in stature, she made up in spunk.
“She was as cute as a bug’s ear,” said Castillo, a 57-year-old Sunnyvale resident, who saw her as an older sister.
His mother called her “chile de bolita,” a little ball of spice. She was a popular high school student, a flag team member, he recalled. Dowd went on to San Jose State University, graduating in 1986 with a business degree.
Dowd’s LinkedIn page listed her work history, but also volunteer work painting Habitat for Humanity homes in Contra Costa County, sorting food at Second Harvest Food Bank and cleaning up a wildlife refuge behind her work in Fremont.
Her online obituary described a woman with a “beautiful smile” who loved reading, scrapbooking, traveling, watching movies, wine tasting and spending time with family and friends.
On March 15, Dowd’s daughter posted a photo of the pair, her arms draped over her mother’s shoulders.
“I’m still in shock of how you were taken from us so suddenly. It’s not fair. All I can say is Dad and I miss you so so much,” her daughter wrote. “To My best friend I love you so much. Thank you for the best 23 years. I will never forget them. And I just hope I can keep making you proud in heaven.”
Lauren Hernandez and Matthias Gafni are San Francisco Chronicle staff writers. Email: [email protected], [email protected] Twitter: @ByLHernandez, @mgafni
