Pat Roth was hired by George E. Spofford who was Chief of Maintenance with an office at the terminal in late 1972 or early 1973. Mr. Spofford says that when Port Authority Director Dick Judy's secretary Vi left she was replaced by an older secretary who had been Gerry Weintraub's secretary but she left or retired shortly thereafter. Mr. Spofford can't remember exactly when but after that Aviation Director Dick Judy stole Pat from him and Mr. Spofford hired Lettie Gooding, who had been working for Rich Babl, to be his secretary. Pat was Dick's long-time executive secretary from that point until 1989 at the Dade County Port Authority, renamed to Dade County Aviation Department (DCAD) renamed to Metro-Dade Aviation Department (MDAD) and finally renamed to the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, owner/operator of the county's Miami International Airport and five outlying airports.

Mr. Judy was forced out in 1989 after the county was forced by a federal judge to elect 13 commissioners on a district basis instead of 9 commissioners elected county-wide so that minorities would have a better chance of representation on the commission. Two of the newly-elected commissioners had it in for Mr. Judy, who had run the Aviation Department with little interference by county commissioners, and they created a lot of bad publicity for him. I can't remember where Pat changed jobs to within the department or within the county but she was always really nice to me and I enjoyed talking with her whenever I was up on the 5th floor of the Aviation Department office tower or at parties that Dick was throwing for different events.

Pat's obituary is online at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/herald/obituary.aspx?n=patricia-roth&pid=181002711

Rest In Peace, Pat! It was a pleasure and privilege to have known you during MIA's best years ever.