Gloria Mable Patton Obituary (2023)

Mom was born on Cinco De Mayo and enjoyed celebrating that day with good food and margaritas. Mom was born in Chehalis, spent her high school days in Toppenish, where she met and married her high school sweetheart, Lewis Patton, our Dad. They were married for 75 years, 8 months and 2 days. She passed on June 17, 2023. Dad wanted it known that she was a very good military wife, even working as a car hop while stationed in El Paso, and managing the moves the Army required of them. Mom was the first in our neighborhood to go to college after she had all 4 kids in school. She earned her Master's Degree in Library Science at Central and spent her career running public school libraries. She worked at Washington Middle School, Wapato Primary School, Grand Coulee Middle School, and split her time in Chehalis between Cascade and R.E. Bennett elementary schools. When Mom and Dad moved to Western Washington, they settled in Doty as Dad's job was in nearby Pe Ell. Shortly after moving there, Mom learned she had an aunt buried in Doty and her father had lived there as a child. After a great deal of research, she found that she was descended from one of the very earliest pioneer families to settle in Washington State, the family of Charles Bishop, who were well established near Chehalis by the time the first Washington State census was taken in 1840. She made sure all the females in her lineage are members of the Daughters of Pioneers of Washington State Mom was a wonderful cook and taught her children, often by us just hanging out in the kitchen watching while she prepared dinner. Mom was also a master seamstress, creating clothes, costumes and matching square dancing outfits for she and Dad. She became a master quilter, making them for her grandchildren and children. She and Dad loved to dance. If anything defined their lives together, it would be dancing. Swing, square dancing, going to the Elks Valentine dances, Eagles band nights. They managed one dance at their 75th wedding anniversary party, but they were 92 and 93, so one is pretty great! They loved having great parties with as many family and friends as they could pack onto their property. Harvest Festival on Labor Day in Wapato and Fourth of July in Doty were famous-or is that notorious We combined many families- worth of fireworks and enjoyed them for hours-except for that one year when the whole table blew up at once. What a spectacle that was! Mom and Dad traveled a lot after retirement, visiting Europe, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii and they travelled the United States in their Chevy van. Mom and Dad loved fishing from Lake Roosevelt to the Pacific Ocean to Alaska for Salmon and Halibut. Mom is survived by Dad, daughters Cathy (Rick Fries) and Janet (Jeff Swanson), son-in-law Tad Orme, and, in chronological order, grandchildren: Carrie, Melanie, Terry Jr., Amy, Megan, Sarah, Lindsay and Lauren. Great Grandchildren: Mason, Madeline, Isabelle, Audrey, Mailee, Luca, Romeo, Sam, Mateo and Solange. She was predeceased, sadly, by her youngest daughter Leslie Orme and only son, her first born, Terry. There will be no services. A family get-together will be held at a later date. Mom is being cared for by Brookside.