Patricia Averdick was born in Middletown, Ohio, on June 18, 1939, and completed her BA in political science at St. Xavier College in Chicago.
In 1961, she married the writer Bruce Dobler, and relocated with him to Iowa City; Exeter, New Hampshire; Putney, Vermont; Anchorage, Alaska; Tucson, Arizona; El Paso, Texas; and finally Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as he advanced through his academic and writing career.
After raising two daughters, Stephanie and Lisa, Patricia Dobler completed her MFA at the University of Pittsburgh, where she studied poetry with Ed Ochester, Lynn Emanuel, and Louis Simpson.
In 1986, her book was chosen by poet Maxine Kumin to receive the Brittingham Prize in Poetry from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
That same year, Dobler joined the faculty of Carlow University, where she founded and directed its Women's Creative Writing Center, a position she held until her death in 2004.