HUISKING, Lillian P.

Lillian Pat Huisking, 94, Sarasota, died May 13, 2008. A memorial service will be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Plymouth Harbor Retirement Center in Sarasota. Survivors include a son, Charlie of Sarasota; and a daughter, Sarah of Atlanta. When Pat Huisking and a friend were having lunch at a Sarasota restaurant not long ago, they told a waiter they didn't need menus. "We don't see," said Huisking, who had macular degeneration. "We don't hear, either," her friend said. "But we do drink," Huisking added with a smile. "I'll have a Dewar's on the rocks." That wit and spirit typified Huisking, who died Tuesday at the Plymouth Harbor health center. A Sarasota resident since the 1950s, Huisking was admired by friends and family for her warm heart, gracious manner, elegant sense of style and her ability to age with grace and courage. She was active in the Sarasota arts community since the 1960s, when she painted scenery at the Players and ushered at the Asolo Theater. Through the Huisking Foundation, she supported a variety of arts and social service organizations, from the Asolo and the FSU/Asolo Conservatory to the Ringling Museum and the United Way. Born in Vernon, Texas, she graduated from the Oklahoma College for Women. She moved to Florida from New York with her husband, Charles. They were married for 57 years before his death in 1998. Memorial donations may be made to TideWell Hospice or the Plymouth Harbor Endowment Fund.