Patricia Ann (Garrett) Sorensen

She was born in Kansas City, MO on July 24, 1940 to James D. and Lorene (Epps) Garrett

Memorial Service; Saturday, February 5, 2022 at 3:00PM at Chapel Oaks Seventh-day Adventist Church, 6245 Monticello Road, Shawnee, KS, with visitation one half hour prior to the service.

Pat is survived by her husband, Glenn William “Bill” Sorensen; son and his wife, Daniel Glenn and Mary Sorensen; daughter and her husband, Karen Suzanne (Sorensen) and Gerald Duwayne Whitson; brother and his wife James David “JD” and Jean Garrett; sister Donna Garrett; 4 grandchildren (Ashleigh, Alicia, Garret, Samantha); 2 great-grandchildren (Dillynn and Allison)

Memorial remembrances are suggested to City Union Mission or favorite charity. Gravesite is at Mt. Moriah Cemetery, 10507 Holmes Rd, Kansas City, MO. Online memorial is available at https://www.dignitymemorial.com/obituaries/10547583

Life Story

Patricia “Pat” Ann Garrett was born to James “Jim” Garrett and Lorene Epps on July 24, 1940. Pat’s father Jim’s mother Lydia Dettmar was from Germany. Jim’s father Paul Garrett was from England. Jim had a sister Marian and a brother Bob. Lorene’s mother was Lalie Belle. Lalie Belle’s dad was Grover Cleveland, a full-blooded Cherokee Indian Chief. Jim and Lorene divorced when Pat was 5 years old and her brother “JD” was 3. Jim remarried and Pat and JD were raised as children by Jim and Mary Garrett. Jim and Mary also had two additional children, Pat’s brother and sister Bobby and Donna.

Pat graduated from Southwest High School in Kansas City in 1958. The house where she grew up is on 85th and Brooklyn. Her first job out of high school was for the Hallmark Corporate Office in Kansas City. She walked in high heels to the streetcar in Waldo and took the streetcar to Hallmark Union Station to get to work by 6 am.

Pat married Bill Sorensen in Kansas City, MO on November 19, 1960. They met at a roller-skating rink while Pat was babysitting her brother Bobby and sister Donna. When Bill asked Pat out on a date, she told him she didn’t go out with strangers. He responded, “I’m not strange” and convinced her to go on their first date to a Ben-Hur movie. 6 months later, they were married. They moved to Phoenix two weeks after their wedding so Bill could work for his dad Ralph Sorensen siding houses. Their son Danny was born in Phoenix on April 9, 1962. They spent two winters and one summer in Phoenix and then moved back to Kansas City when Danny was 5 weeks old. They lived on Rainbow Blvd. Bill’s parents Ralph and Evelyn Sorensen had a house for rent and sold it to Bill and Pat at 7601 Newton in Overland Park, KS. They planned to live there for 6 months and stayed for 25 years. Their daughter Karen was born December 11, 1964. In the late-1980s, Bill and Pat moved to a house in Lenexa and then to Olathe.

Pat was an accomplished artist. Throughout her life, Pat had a creative flair that came through in many ways – ceramics, children’s crafts, bread dough Christmas tree ornaments, floral arrangements, calligraphy, oil painting, and acrylic painting. Pat enjoyed shopping for clothes for her family and made an art out of finding bargains. Her children and grandchildren were frequently greeted with “when you have a minute, try this on, I got this $50 shirt or pants or jacket for $5!“

Pat and her husband Bill were both active in supporting the New Haven Seventh-day Adventist church, Pathfinders, Vacation Bible School, and Midland Adventist School, where Karen and Danny attended. For Midland, Pat helped with Home and School activities, planned numerous parties and social activities, and helped with school lunches.

In her early career, Pat went to work styling wigs at a wig and dress shop at 79th and Conser and eventually styling wigs at the GEM (Government Employee Mart) near I-35 and 75th street. This is where she met Jude, who became her life-long friend. Pat and Jude worked together on many creative business adventures, such as styling wigs at Jude’s Head Hunters store at 95th and Antioch and making and selling large ceramics to furniture stores and smaller ceramics to local gift shops.

When ceramics became less profitable, Jude took a job at Southwestern Bell and Pat took a job at the child care center in 1979 at Shawnee Mission Medical Center (SMMC). Pat started working with Candy Seltman getting the child care center ready to open. She worked there for 32 years and was well known for painting the murals on the child care center walls, organizing fun crafts for kids, and making personalized bread dough bear Christmas tree ornaments. With so many orders from employees of the hospital and numerous friends, for a few years she made enough bears to make $900 every Christmas. She also enjoyed organizing and ordering merchandise for the SMMC gift shop. Pat enjoyed caring for many children at the child care center over the years and enjoyed many of them coming back to see her when they reached their high school and college years.

Pat’s great joy in life was spending time with her family, children, nieces and nephews, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Two of her grandchildren are Danny’s children Ashleigh (Sorensen) Willard and Samantha Sorensen. Ashleigh is married to Justin Willard and their children (Pat’s great grandchildren) are Dillynn and Allison. Two of her grandchildren are Karen and her husband Gerry’s children Alicia and Garret. Alicia is married to Ethan Ward.

Pat had a great faith in Jesus. She believed the words in the Bible that tell us all who call on the name of Jesus will be saved. She called on His name to save her, trusted his blood to cleanse her from all sin. She fought the good fight, she finished her race, she kept her faith (see 2 Timothy 4:7-8). Pat is sleeping peacefully in the grave until Jesus comes again to take her home to Heaven, along with everyone else who comes and takes the water of life from Jesus freely (see Revelation 22:17).