Patience B. Wales, former Editor of SAIL magazine and two-time circumnavigator, died on February 16, 2024, of colon cancer. She was 89. A native of Massachusetts, she lived in Ipswich for 34 years.
Born in Brockton, Massachusetts to Ralph and Retha Bens, she was raised in Randolph with older brothers, Richard, David, and Ralph. She loved animals, poetry, and writing and was an excellent student. Accepted into Tufts University, she earned a bachelor’s degree in English and learned small boat sailing at that time.
Following a stint at Houghton-Mifflin in New York City, Patience moved back to Boston in 1957 and married Jim Wales of Marblehead. Inspired by a lecture on circumnavigation, the couple, along with Patience’s college roommate, Dr. Bebe Wunderlich and her husband, Kenneth, bought a double-ended, 42-foot, wooden boat named Kismet. In 1963, they headed west over the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sea, through the Suez Canal and European rivers, returning in 1967.
SAIL magazine started in Boston in 1970 and Patience, now divorced, began as a contributing editor. In 1973 she was named managing editor and rose to editor in 1988, making her one of the first female editors of a major sailing magazine. A colleague remembered, “She was a circumnavigator and female editor in the time of the boys’ clubs!” She was credited with shifting editorial content more toward cruising to appeal to a larger portion of the readership.
“Patience was outspoken, but you always knew where you stood with her,” said Gail Anderson, who worked with Patience as assistant editor and then associate editor. “She encouraged women to get into sailing and supported the female staff members. During my 20 years on the SAIL editorial staff, I probably would not have been as confident going out there and doing things such as racing to Cuba and chartering in Greece.”
She added: “Patience became an expert on bareboat chartering particularly in the Caribbean but also other parts of the world. In SAIL, she reported on bareboating frequently and from first-hand knowledge as a charterer.”
One of Patience’s favorite expressions, she said, was “More as it becomes known.”
“Cosmopolitan may have had Helen Gurley Brown and Vogue may have had Anna Wintour, but SAIL had Patience Wales—the best hands-on editor you could ever work with,” said Eric Cressy, who worked with Patience for some 15 years in several roles including Northeast regional manager, ad director/associate publisher, and publisher.
In 1974 she met Knowles Pittman, then publisher of Yacht Racing Magazine, and there was an instant connection. They moved to Revere and planned another circumnavigation with Bebe and Kenneth, this time on Boston Light, a Skye 51-foot cutter. Headed to the south seas in 1986, they spent time in French Polynesia, Fiji, Borneo, and Indonesia.
Returning in 1988, she and Knowles married and settled in Ipswich. She retired from SAIL in 2001 after 28 years. “I’ve had the job to kill for,” she wrote in her final issue, “sailing, sailing, sailing all over the world.”
“We all stand on the shoulders of giants, and that’s how I have always felt about Patience Wales, though I did not know her personally,” said SAIL Editor-in-Chief Wendy Mitman Clarke. “I must have been about 18 or so when I first submitted a story proposal to SAIL, and she politely declined, while encouraging me to keep trying. Knowing how sailing and magazines were so male dominated in the decades she was SAIL’s editor, I have always been in awe of her. That’s a legacy I think about every day, and I’m grateful she helped carved that path for me and so many other women in sailing and writing.”
Throughout her life, she was known as a very high-energy person with a glass-half-full attitude. That, combined with her quick wit and humor, made her a lot of fun to be around and also an extremely effective person. In Ipswich, she jumped into local politics, became an avid gardener, a yoga devotee, and a feline rescue volunteer.
After her husband’s death in 2005 she continued traveling, including six trips along the canals of France in self-driven barges. She had just returned from Portugal this past October, holding onto her usual 100 or so Euros at the end, “to have for the next trip.”
Patience is survived by her stepdaughters Ann Pittman and husband Bob Quillin, Lucia Ratner and Carrie Pittman. Stepson, Freeman Pittman, predeceased her in 1996. She is also survived by Freeman’s wife, Susan Pittman, and their daughters, Rebecca Pittman and Margaret Pittman; Lucia’s sons Ben Ratner, Sam Ratner, his wife Silvia Ponce and their daughter Vivian; plus, many nieces & nephews. At Patience’s request, there will be no funeral. A celebration of life will be held at a later date. In memoriam donations can be made to Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, 63 Elm Street, Salisbury, MA 01952. www.mrfrs.org
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