Patsy Carole Kelley

Early Tuesday morning November 26, 2019, Patsy Carole Kelley, 84, passed away peacefully in Mansfield, Texas after a 7-year struggle with Alzheimer's, while surrounded by her family. Her Memorial Service will be held at First Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas at 2pm on Tuesday December 3rd. Patsy…or ‘Pat' as she was known to most of her friends, was born in Borger, Texas on July 26, 1935 to Van and Hazel Foster. Pat married Richard Dwain Coggin a few years after graduating from high school, and they had two children, Kay Dawn and Richard, before Dwain died tragically in an automobile accident in 1962. In 1963, Pat married Bill Kelley who had also lost his first wife. Bill brought two children, Craig and Jean Ann into the new family union. A fifth child, Clay Kelley, was born to Pat and Bill in April of 1964 and they raised their five children in Lubbock, Texas during the early years of their marriage. Pat was a member of the Lubbock Junior League. She was very active in the community and loved playing tennis and snow-skiing with her family. When Bill Kelley joined the W.A. Holt Sporting Goods Company in Lubbock, Pat learned the art and skill of engraving and contributed to the family income by engraving plaques and trophies for Holt Sporting Goods for many years. In 1973, Bill and Pat moved our family to Arlington, Texas. They bought a home on the canal system in Arlington where we spent summers fishing and swimming together and eating meals together by the water. Pat loved living on the canals and all the activity it brought to our family. Mom particularly enjoyed feeding the fish and ducks every morning and evening and sitting by the water with those she loved. She developed a large circle of friends in Arlington and was a member of Fielder Road Baptist Church. Pat was a devout Christian and her love of Jesus was profound. As her children, there was nothing that was more important to her than teaching us what Christ had done to provide salvation for the world. She lived a life that quietly exemplified so visibly what it meant to serve and care for others and teaching us by her actions, how to love and give unconditionally. She woke us in the morning by saying, “Rise and shine for thy light has come…Isaiah sixty and one!” After most of her kids were out of high school, Pat and two friends (Gwen McCormick and Mary Jo Smith) started Special Arrangements, a specialty events business which coordinated weddings, parties and corporate events for companies such as Bell Helicopter and Alcon Laboratories. Special Arrangements was successful and thrived with a few partner changes along the way, throughout the 1980's and into the early 90's. Pat was an excellent cook and had a special knack and ability for making wispy thin peanut brittle which was coveted by those who knew her. Every year after Thanksgiving, she made batch after batch of her tasty, unique peanut brittle recipe, giving it away to friends and family…who all knew to return their aluminum tins to mom each year, and by doing so, would assure a new batch of brittle the following year! Mom was quiet giver, taking food to families with ill loved ones and catering to the needs of others so often before her own. She often told us that we…her children, were the most important possessions she had on earth. None of us were ever in doubt of this. Her love for us was so evident in all that she did. In 2013 the early changes of Alzheimer's began to set in, and these changes would progress for the next seven years. Despite the progression of a disease that month by month slowly took her from our midst, our dear mother maintained the essence of the sweet, kind and loving person that we'd known all our lives. Prior to her death, mom had chosen to will her body to the University of North Texas Health Science Center for medical research. Her feeling was that she wanted to contribute here on earth even after her soul was in heaven. Patsy Carole Kelley was preceded in death by her first husband, Richard Dwain Coggin and her second husband, Bill Kelley, her son-in-law Alan Hawrylak, her sisters Mary Konechney, Judy Herbst and her sister-in-law Diane Foster. Patsy is survived by her family: Brothers and Sisters: Larry Foster, Lillian Noble and Husband Jerry, Suzanne Kerwin and husband Gene Children: Craig Kelley, Jean Ann Barnard and her husband Jerry, Kay Hawrylak, Richard Kelley and his wife Sherrill, Clay Kelley and his wife Brandee. Grandchildren: Kamryn Hawrylak Miller and her husband Mark, Kathryn Hawrylak Dozier and her husband Dylan, Jake Kelley, Cole Wade and Tyler Wade, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. Memorials: Donations in honor of Patsy Carole Kelley are humbly accepted by the Alzheimer's Association North Central Texas, 2630 West Freeway Suite 100, Fort Worth, 76102, alz.org/northcentraltexas. Wade Family Funeral Home 817-274-9233