Helen Patterson's Obituary
Helen Braidwood Patterson, born March 20, 1922 passed away February 17, 2014 at age 91.
After graduating from Lincoln High School in 1940, Helen attended beauty school. During the war, she worked in the shipyards, roller-skating from building to building delivering paperwork. On February 27, 1943, she married her high school sweetheart, Lester Patterson. They chose to work the graveyard shift at the shipyards so they could go straight to the golf course following the end of their shift.
In 1954, Lester and Helen moved to University Place where she was a homemaker. She was active in the Garden Club, Girl Scouts, golfing and various other activities. Helen was a member of University Place Presbyterian Church for 40 years, where in the early years, she taught Sunday School in a chicken coup.
Helen was the youngest of three children born to Samuel and Elizabeth Braidwood. She was the first to be born in the United States as her family immigrated to this Country from Scotland in 1915.
Our mom was an amazing lady. She was always there to lend a hand or a sympathetic ear. She led by example, laughed often and loved much. She made everyone she met feel welcome and loved. She was considered a mom, gramma and friend to many. She earned the title Action Grandma by riding on the backs of motorcycles and jumping fully clothed into swimming pools, even into her 80’s.
Helen was preceded in death by her husband Lester in 1994, her son-in-law Dennis Bouffiou in 2011 and her great-grandson Thad Batchelder in 2013. She is survived by her three children; Cindy Bouffiou, Gordon Patterson (wife Michele) and Barbara Sumerlin (husband Jay) as well as 8 grandchildren, Michele Batchelder (husband David), Melanie Sanders, Tegan Bohannon (husband Josh), Philip Patterson, Cory Watterson (wife Callie), Jordan Sumerlin and Nathan Sumerlin; 7 great-grandchildren, AudryBatchelder, Samuel Batchelder, Amy Batchelder, Benjamin Batchelder, Rebecca Sanders, Cody (Sanders) Cable and Harper Bohannon and one great-great-granddaughter, Gracelyn Mae(Batchelder) Pepper.
A memorial service will be held at The Mountain View Funeral Home, Celebration of Life Center, Aspen Chapel on Friday March 7, 2014, at 1:00PM with a reception to follow.
Remembrances can be made to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation in honor of Helen’s great-grandson Ben Batchelder at 520 Pike St, Seattle, WA 98101 or www.cff.org.
The family would like to offer a special thank you to the wonderful staff at Olympic Alzheimer Facility in Gig Harbor, WA. Your love and care of our beloved mom was always evident.
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