Camden father, daughter travel the U.S. in memory of late wife and mother

Ronald and Patricia Golden shared one wedding, 42 anniversaries, three kids, and 43 states.

What the married couple didn’t share? A funeral.

Patricia died in 2019, almost three years after a Stage 4 breast cancer diagnosis cut one of her and Ronald’s many travels short.

That's where Kimberly Golden stepped in.

This past September, Golden, her 80-year-old father and their dog ticked off the last of their 48-state list, one that had started with family trips during the summers of her and her siblings’ Camden childhoods.

Golden isn’t sure when exactly the goal to see all 50 states was born, but growing up traveling with her family and being the fierce keeper of collections of atlases, each trip spurred excitement to just keep going.

“I think the passive thought was always there,” Golden said.

While working her way through grad school for her second master's degree, she decided that finishing the 48 lower continental states would be her motivating factor, and who better to take the trip with than her father, Ronald, who had accompanied her so many times before.

But there was an empty seat.

“It didn’t feel as complete,” she said, starting to get choked up.

“It still felt like she was with us though.”

Collecting states, stuff and stories

A warm, bright smile plastered in photos taking up space on the entryway walls and living room shelves greets visitors the second they step into the Golden family's Camden home. Patricia's presence lives on, from tangible memories to the way her family centers her in their conversations.

“She had that kind of smile that just lights up a room. … She walks in that room, it was like everything changes,” Ronald Golden said.

She impacted so many lives, the family said, that her funeral was standing room only.

Meticulous highlighter lines mark the atlas routes that the Goldens took to cross the last of the 48 states off of their list: Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Colorado.

The trip left an opportunity for keepsakes, sure, like an impressive pinecone collection, but it also served as an opportunity to share Patricia’s story, both with strangers and between father and daughter.

“Everybody was so impressed with a dad and his daughter … and the dog … trekking across the U.S.,” Golden said.

While such a large piece of their trip was missing, the pair couldn’t help but find a sense of home despite being miles away from the 609.

“It was the first trip that it wasn’t the five of us,” Kimberly Golden said. “It was great, but it was a little bit sad, because it’s never just been the two of us.”

Golden recalled that during her childhood trips, Dad was always the driver, Mom the navigator. This planning would now fall to her.

‘A world outside of Camden’

Growing up in Camden, Kimberly Golden said the travels she took with her parents and siblings, and sometimes a neighborhood friend when the family could afford it, expanded her horizons.

“Traveling at a young age made us know for sure there was a world outside of Camden,” Golden said.

When Ronald Golden and his wife started the family travels, they weren’t sure that it was going to stick. But each summer saw a slightly further distance from home.

“First it started with 25 miles, 50 miles, then 100 miles,” Ronald Golden said. “We didn’t know the kids were going to take to it. ... I think they just liked the excitement of something new, and not hanging around the streets of Camden.”

In their history of travels, there were only ever two places that hadn’t been reached by car: Washington and Nevada.

Next stop: Alaska

Before her diagnosis, Patricia and Ronald were on the last big trip they would take together — San Diego and Los Angeles, about to board a cruise to Alaska.

They would be detoured by a hospital stay and nearly a month-long delay that changed life as they knew it.

“God had other plans,” Ronald Golden said.

But even in her last years, the travel bug didn’t leave Patricia Golden, and her family continued adding to their roadtripping traditions.

“Once she got well enough, we decided to use whatever time she had left on Earth to keep making memories,” Golden said.

The family went to Texas, traveling through Tennessee and New Orleans, now able to bring the couple’s grandson along.

“It just felt right,” Golden said about being on the road again.

That trip was the last time that all five of them could be together and, as Golden said, really enjoy each other.

Avid travelers, this duo is thinking about their next trip, steadfast in completing the last two states on their list.

Where to next? Alaska, most likely. That was always the goal.

And of course, the two will be traveling together once more.

“There’s no other way to complete this story than with him,” Golden said.

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Camden family traveling 50 states in honor of late wife and mother