Mernie Beal Patterson

Mernie Beal Patterson, 92, of Eighty-Four, died Monday, July 9, 2012, in Magee Women’s Hospital, Pittsburgh. She was born August 17, 1919, in a log cabin near Farmington in Marion County, West Virginia, daughter of Paul S. and Josephine O’Callaghan Beal. She attended Trinity High School as long as she could ride there with her brother Paul in his Model T, but graduated from East Washington High School in 1937, because that is as far as the school bus went. In 1942, she graduated from Carnegie Institute of Technology, now Carnegie Mellon University. On December 18, 1942, she married James B. Patterson, who died August 3, 1995. She taught school in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, while her husband was stationed at Fort Knox. After World War II, Mernie taught at Peters Township High School for two years and was the school lunch director for Trinity Middle and High Schools for 21 years. She especially enjoyed gardening, sharing flowers and vegetables with her friends and neighbors, and traveling. Mernie was a member of Church of the Covenant, where she had been an elder and deacon, and a member of the Martha Washington Garden Club. She is survived by three sons, James B. Patterson, Jr., of Wexford; Leon Patterson of York, and Lowell Patterson of Eighty-Four; six grandchildren; and 5 great-grandchildren; and was awaiting the birth of another great-grandchild. Deceased are an infant son, Scott; two sisters, Bertha McMurray and Elizabeth Pollock; and two brothers, Paul and Oscar Beal. She was the last of her generation in the family. Friends will be received Thursday from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m., in William G. Neal Funeral Homes, Ltd., 925 Allison Avenue, Washington. Additional visitation will be held in the funeral home from Noon to 1 p.m., the time of service, Friday, July 13th, with Rev. Dr. Stuart D. Broberg officiating. Burial will follow in Fairview Cemetery, Eighty-Four, PA. In lieu of flowers, Mernie’s family would appreciate donations to Fairview Cemetery Association, Attn: Donald Henderson, 307 Ross Road, Eighty-Four, PA 15330.