Agnes Patterson's high school students came on time, sat up straight in their chairs and spoke proper French.

English was not allowed.

"After the first couple of classes, you'd notice there was less English than no English," said Linda McMillan, one of Mrs. Patterson's former students. "It was a French class, and she had French pictures on the walls and tried to make sure that every aspect of the class was unlike the American culture."

Mrs. Patterson, who taught French and math at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School in East Baltimore for more than 30 years and later at Northwestern High School, died Thursday at Pikesville Nursing and Convalescent Center from complications of a stroke. She was 88.

Friends and former students said Mrs. Patterson was from the old school of teaching -- stern but caring, authoritative but accessible, and always prepared.

"You knew that when you were in her class, you were there for business," said Edmonia Yates of the Dunbar Class of 1948. "She not only was interested in your academics, but she was interested in what you were doing socially and culturally."

Mrs. Patterson taught at Dunbar from 1937 to 1969, then at Northwestern until 1970, when she retired. Her French lessons were more than speaking and writing a foreign language.

"You learned about the history of France, the geography of France, the ways of the French," said William Downs, who took Mrs. Patterson's class in 1962. "She's made it a wonderful trip to places in France, but you'd still learn the language."

Born in Dorchester, Mass., and raised in Catonsville, the former Agnes Watson graduated from Frederick Douglass High School in 1927 and received a bachelor's degree in foreign languages in 1931 from Morgan State College.

She later attended the Johns Hopkins University.

Her first teaching assignment was at a school for black students in Montgomery County.

Mrs. Patterson taught there from 1932 to 1937, when she left to come to Dunbar.

She married Elmer S. Patterson in 1939.

After retiring from the city school system, she supervised student teachers at Morgan State from 1971 to 1974. But she still read and spoke French to friends.

"It was always her lifelong dream to go to France, but she never traveled there," said her niece Ann Davis of Baltimore.

Mrs. Patterson enjoyed playing cards and swimming, and was an accomplished seamstress who often made wedding gowns or dresses for debutante affairs.

She belonged to the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and the Couples Club, and was a charter member of the Baltimore chapter of Girlfriends Inc.

For more than 40 years, Mrs. Patterson was a member at St. Edward Roman Catholic Church, 901 Poplar Grove St., where a Mass of Christian burial will be offered at 10: 30 a.m. Tuesday.

In addition to her husband and Ms. Davis, she is survived by a nephew, Walter H. Schervington of New Orleans; and another niece, Carol Schervington Wright of Baltimore.

Pub Date: 12/06/98