Patois

Desandies

S uzanne Patricia Alice "Patois" DeSandies was born in New York City on February 15, 1950, the third of four children (and only girl) of Elsie and Conrad DeSandies. The family lived in Harlem for the ?rst decade of her life. In 1960, they came across the river to Teaneck, New Jersey. Suzanne attended Teaneck schools graduating from its high school in 1968 and then matriculated to Boston University. As she prepared for university life, Suzanne had no idea of her gifts as an artist. She only knew that she was a vessel for God's expression and the art ?owing from her knew no bounds. Ever the innovator and trend-setter, Suzanne would create a design, and two years later that exact same design would become popular and pro?table. Of course by then, she would have moved on to something else.

In 1972, Suzanne graduated from BU earning a BFA in Interior Design. With degree in hand, she and her young son, Démien, took off to conquer the world. Together, they made an extraordinary artist journey from east to west and then back east. The pair started in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. They lived in Miles Davis's building, and quickly became good friends with the jazz great. But, sunny skies beckoned, and Suzanne looked for a change. She first changed her environment and then her name, becoming "Patois", a combination her two middle names and embodying a persona that deviated from the standard norm. It was a new life for them in California, and it was a place where she could paint and design all year long.

Their initial stop was in northern California, where she created Patois & Company, a design firm that specialized in hand-painted functional art housewares like aprons, tea towels, placemats, etc. She created the designs and did the hand painting, and sold to stores like Nordstrom's, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue and caught the attention of the Today Show. But, alas San Francisco, too, proved too cold, so they proceeded to head south down the California coast. They lived in several areas in Southern California, before finally settling in Laguna Beach. Ms. Patois established herself in the artist community of Laguna Beach, with the view of the Pacific Ocean out her back door. Always thirsty for knowledge, her various talents and interests went beyond art. She used her artist voice to bring awareness to social issues. She created H.E.A.L. Inc. (Healing Events in Artist Language) a non-profit foundation, specifically designed to heal the community from the ills of racism, and TrOT (Triumph over Trauma), because she believed in holistically healing. Patois pursued her interests in the human psyche by earning a PhD in Human and Organizational Systems from Fielding Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, Ca.

After her father's illness, Dr. Patois decided to return back East where she lived out her final days, but never once stopped believing in God's power and God's will. After a relatively short illness with lung cancer, this non-smoker passed away at Englewood Hospital on Sunday February 7th.

She leaves to cherish her memories her son Démien DeSandies, and his betrothed, Roxy Rodriguez; her grandson, Maximilian Xavier DeSandies; her three brothers and their wives, Kenneth (Karen), Dandré (Man Yee), and André (Gail Lou), as well as nephews Adeh and Kayin DeSandies, great - nephew JinYao DeSandies; nieces Kisha Lester, Kanika DeSandies, LC DeSandies, and T. S. Rose DeSandies, as well as aunts, uncles, cousins, and hosts of friends or associates, whose lives she has touched in many ways.