Patsy "Nana" Stotler

Born on 5 December 1931 to William L. and Alta Pauline Marney, Patsy Josephine Marney entered this world during the Great Depression in Duncan , Oklahoma, adjacent to the Chisholm Trail. She passed away with family at her side in her Bakersfield home on 4 June 2016. Throughout her early years, Oklahoma was her home until her family, and many other relatives including her beloved grandparents, John and Clara Sprouse, migrated to California in 1935 to seek a life beyond the devastation of America's most severe weather phenomenon: the Dust Bowl. Settling at the base of the Big Bear mountains in the labor camps of Arvin, California, she lived in canvas tents and attended school after school after school while her father, Bill, followed harvests and picked virtually every crop from broom straw to melons. Determinism was the order-not an option-of any given day in the 1930s and it left its indelible impression upon her character. And it worked to her advantage-including the time she donned her Sunday-best dress thinking "Daddy" wouldn't make her pick cotton if she were all dressed up.

By the time she entered adolescence, her parents, two brothers and sister had long since left Arvin and moved to several homes before the family permanently settled into their wood-framed home on Kern Street in East Bakersfield. She attended East Bakersfield High School and worked at the Granada Theater where she met her future husband, William Richard "Dick" Stotler. They were married in 1950 and two sons, William Richard Stotler, Jr. and Danny Bruce Stotler followed to further establish this family known to many in the Kern oilfields and beyond. Like her parents, Patsy, or Pat, learned that through work and ingenuity, predicaments shift to progress and situations are the stepping stones to success. Her achievements were grounded in her domestic dedication. Mondays she scrubbed and cleaned her home to maintain its sparkly perfection-and the standard family joke was that you didn't bother to knock nor expect a visit if you dropped by on a Monday. Roasts, meat loafs, spaghetti and clam chowder were her hallmark dishes and all were prepared with simplicity yet superbly cooked. From crocheting afghans and wooden coat-hanger covers to staying up all night to fulfill an impromptu request for a Santa suit for one son's school party, her ruler-straight seams and handiwork skills matched those of her mother, Pauline, who once sewed shirts for Cousin Herb and his band members. Her extensive voluntarism could always be traced to her family. Whether she served as President of the Williams School PTA, a den mother for scouts, taught Sunday School or dished up barbecue at the Shrine Park, whatever activity that called for selfless acts of service, they connected with those she loved the most: Dick and her boys. Camping trips to June Lake, Kern Oil picnics at Hart Park, trips to Vegas for shows and slots with neighbors and numerous coastal and Sierra Nevada mountain excursions with the Mobile Nobles, along with Hawaiian, Cuban, and European cruises-all these contributed to a life well lived, a life well loved. Save one decade~the 1960s~Pat welcomed either children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren into her life. Throughout their 61-year marriage, both Dick and Pat enjoyed now-memorable good times together as they hosted multi-generational family pool parties, holiday dinners, card games.

Together, they attended ball games, swim meets and church events for their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. There's a line from The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck that reads, "She walked for the family and held her head straight for the family." Each step, each effort, each embrace reflected a remark she uttered just a few days before she slipped into her final sleep: "I'm determined." That is the legacy she leaves to her survivors who include her son, Richard (Susie) and their children Sarah Stotler Dawson (Ryan) and Scott (Liz) Stotler. Son, Dan (Darlene) and their children Jason (Patty) Stotler and Jill Stotler Urmston (Nathan).

Great grandchildren include Mia Rebekah, Grace Danielle, Samantha Josephine and Nathan Andrew Urmston; Emily Katharine and Brooks Phillip Dawson; Bennett William Stotler; Jason Owen and Olivia Jill Stotler and Hailey Marie and Nicholas Kelso Lopez. Sister Neva Joyce Johnson and brother William Robert Marney have preceded her in death. Ronald Marney resides in Bakersfield. Dear friend, Lorraine Brown, numerous nieces, nephews, relatives and friends will miss her as well. Grandsons Jason Daniel and Scott Andrew Stotler, grandsons-in-law Nathan Urmston, Ryan Dawson, and nephews Lee and Wayne Johnson will serve as pallbearers. She now has joined her beloved husband, Dick Stotler, who preceded her in death on 19 December 2011. Services will be held on Thursday, 9 June 2016 at 2 p.m. at Hillcrest Memorial Park.