Muriel Irene Rodgers Patterson
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A graveside inurnment service will be held at 2 p.m. on April 25, 2015 at Memorial Park Cemetery, Lawrence, KS.
Muriel Irene Rodgers Patterson was born on August 10, 1924 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. At six months of age Muriel and her parents moved to Lawrence, Kansas where in 1943 she graduated from Liberty Memorial High School. She attended the University of Kansas in Lawrence from September 1943 to January of 1946, majoring in occupational therapy. During World War II, she worked at the Fairfax Bomber Plant in Kansas City, KS, helping to build the North American B-25 Mitchell Twin-Engine Bomber, standard equipment for the Allied Forces, the most heavily armed airplane and perhaps the most versatile plane of the war. She also volunteered as a nurse’s aid with the Red Cross.
In October 1945, she visited her high school sweetheart, Richard (Dick) H. Patterson at the US Navy base in Corpus Christi, TX, where he was stationed as a member of the US Marine Corp. They were married on October 28, 1945.
After Dick was discharged from the Marines, in 1947 they moved to Fort Collins, CO so Dick could pursue a degree in forestry at what was then Colorado A & M University, now Colorado State University. During their time in Fort Collins, Muriel gave birth to their first son, Chris on December 11, 1946 and their daughter, Sandy, on December 28, 1949.
After Dick’s graduation in the summer of 1951, the family moved to Holly, CO, in the extreme southeast corner of the state, for Dick’s new job with the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS). While in Holly Muriel gave birth to their second son, Seth, on February 15, 1953.
In the fall of 1958, Dick transferred to the Springfield, CO office of the SCS, about 80 miles from Holly, where Muriel and the family lived until the fall of 1960. At that time Dick shifted his career into banking and Muriel and family moved to Walsh, CO, about 20 miles from Springfield. In 1960 Muriel and the family joined the local First Methodist Church, which the family attended regularly.
Muriel and family lived in Walsh, where all of the children graduated high school, until 1975, when Muriel and Dick moved back to Springfield. They transferred their church membership to the First United Methodist Church of Springfield. By this time the children had all graduated college and were scattered to locations in CO, NE and KS.
Dick passed in 1996 and Muriel continued to live a full and independent life for the next 15 years in Springfield. Muriel moved to Highland Trail near son Seth late in the summer of 2011 where she reconnected with a friend from the past in Walsh, Ethelyn Harper, and was graciously welcomed and made many new friends.
Muriel passed peacefully in her sleep very early in the morning of January 5, 2015 at Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette, CO. She was preceded in death by her father in 1958, her mother in 1979, her husband in 1996, her older sister in 1990 and her younger sister in 2014.
She is survived by her three children Chris (Patty), Sandy (Rick) Ploetz, and Seth; her grandchildren, Bryan (Aimee) and Mark (Diana); Christopher (Jeannette), and Elizabeth; Andrea (Justin) Salazar, Eric (Katie), Bryce and Elise; respectively. In addition, she is survived by nine great grandchildren: Leyton, Brooke and Olivia; Christopher and Kayden; Gywneth and Juliette; Emiliano; and Elodie; respectively. More great grandchildren are on the way.
Muriel felt extremely blessed by her family and her full life. She insisted that her memorial service be a celebration of life and asked that you not dwell on her death but rather her wonderful life and that she is back with her sweetheart, Dick.
A memorial service was held in the Chapel at Highland Trail on Saturday, January 10, 2015 which was followed by a reception in the Activity Room. There was a memorial service in Springfield, CO on Tuesday, January 13, 2015 at the First United Methodist Church of Springfield. A graveside inurnment service will be held at 2 p.m. on April 25th at Memorial Park Cemetery, Lawrence, KS.
In lieu of flowers or cards to the family, Muriel asked that you consider making contributions to one or more of the following:
- First United Methodist Church of Springfield (CO), www.springfieldumc.org, 901 Colorado Street, Springfield, CO 81073
- Southeast Colorado Hospital District (Springfield, CO), www.secohosp.org, 373 East 10th Avenue, Springfield, CO 81073
- A charity of your choice
or may be sent in care of Warren-McElwain Mortuary.