Dr. Bebe Patten, founder of
Patten University,
 Dr. Bebe Patten (
September 13, 1913 to January 25, 2004) was the founder of Patten
University (formerly Oakland Bible Institute), Patten Academy and
the Christian Evangelical Churches of America, Inc. denomination.
Born Bebe Harrison on September 13, 1913, she began attending
Bible College at fifteen, and became an evangelist at the age of
eighteen. In 1935, Bebe Harrison married C. Thomas Patten, who
worked with her during her evangelistic crusades and her Oakland
revival services. The couple had three children: identical twins
Rebecca and Priscilla in 1950 and Thomas Patten Jr. in 1954. Dr.
Patten became a highly successful national evangelist, arrived in
Oakland, California, in 1944 and began an evangelistic crusade
there. The meetings continued nightly for nineteen weeks, in which
as many as 5,000 people a night attended in the Oakland Auditorium
Arena. This crusade led in 1944 to the founding of the Oakland
Bible Institute, which was to become Patten University. Patten
| 
