Patricia Coleman Wilson

Patricia C. Wilson passed away peacefully at home on the evening of April 14th, 2023. She was 81 years old. It occurred in a moment of meditative quiet and serenity, surrounded by beloved family and her long term care giver and dear friend Mary Bland. She is predeceased by her husband of 43 years, Dr. James Phillip Wilson and is survived by her two children, Loretta K Wilson of Petaluma, CA and James P. Wilson of Nashville, TN.

Pat, nee Mary Patricia Coleman, was born June 13, 1941 in Pittsburgh, PA to Coach John H. Coleman and Loretta Hughes Coleman, the middle sister to older brother John “Jack” Coleman (Kim) of Buffalo NY and younger brother Edward “Rick” Coleman (Henrietta) of Austin TX.

After Atlantic Avenue grammar school, Forrest Hills Junior High and Edgewood high school, she attended Michigan Sate University where she studied Special Education. A beauty queen, she was gregarious and outgoing as a member of the Tri Delta Sorority. Trying to sneak into the back door of a Spring Mixer, her ingress was thwarted by a handsome young Delta Upsilon. She was allowed entry on the condition that she save a dance for him. As it turned out, it would be the first of many, many years of dancing to follow.

After both graduating, he a year ahead of her, Pat and Jim would marry in 1964 and move to Baltimore, MD where Jim attended Johns Hopkins under the Barry Plan and she taught special education with her own usual care and enthusiasm and with an emphasis on engagement through creativity and expression.

From Baltimore, Jim would ship off to Vietnam and Pat would spend that year of his tour raising their still very young daughter Loretta as they split time between family in both Pittsburgh and Virginia. If it takes a village as it is said, the two were fortunate to enjoy the comforts of knowing that many doors were always open to them.

After a post-deployment stop in Colorado Springs with plenty of skiing, it was Nashville by way of Vanderbilt that they made their forever home, wasting little time putting down deep roots here in the medical, social and charitable circles. They were soon regulars, either as attendees or organizers, of countless parties, black tie events, galas and fund raisers. In 1975, they adopted a round, bald baby boy and named him James Patrick Wilson and baby made four.

A chair woman, committee head, school project maven, dedicated friend, “favorite” sister-in-law, magnificent story teller, occasional fabulist, Pat could command a room. She had a beguiling smile, a wry wit and an infectious laugh. She was a thinker and a doer. She was generous and creative. Her life spanned decades of exponential change and yet she remained the same steadfast, single-minded woman, loved by so many, until the very end.

In her later life, and after the death of her Jim, without the aid of her husband’s arm always at the ready, getting around became increasingly difficult but she still enjoyed hosting lunches, afternoons with her dominos group and talking Nashville Predators or Vanderbilt baseball with those who dropped by the house on any given afternoon. In 2011, she was fortunate to find a care giver and friend who became family and who, along with her son James, looked after her with loving care.

She was of a certain old Nashville generation and with her passing, the city as so many of us knew it, loses one more of its keepers of history and lore. She will be dearly missed. Now, fittingly, she will live on in the stories told and retold by her loved ones.

A service will be held Friday, May 19th at the Calvary Cemetery columbarium beginning at twelve thirty (12:30pm) and led by Father Pat Kibby where her remains will be inurned, finally rejoining the love of her life in the sweet hereafter.

In lieu of flowers, we suggest donations in her name be made to The Arc (thearc.org), an organization dedicated to the human rights and inclusion of those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. You can find their donation portal, an orange button, on the homepage or go to https://thearc.org/get-involved/ways-give/ to see all the various ways to give.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.marshalldonnellycombs.com for the Wilson family.