Patricia was born on March 18, 1936, in Fargo to Ernest and Kathleen Holland. She spent her early years in Vernon as well as Fort Worth before moving to Tyler.
She graduated from Tyler High School and went on to attend North Texas University, where she shared her dorm room with long-time best friend Damaris Moore. It was at this time that she sustained a traumatic head injury in a car accident that many believed she would not recover from.
By God's grace she survived and went on to meet the love of her life, James O. Stanley Jr. of Tyler. They married in April of 1957 and shared over sixty-two years together as sweethearts, raising three children, traveling the world, playing bridge and enjoying many friends and family members.
Patricia had many passions. She loved to cook and was a very talented seamstress, including needlepoint, sewing and smocking dresses for her grandchildren. Her greatest passion, though, was her love for teaching and sharing her love for our Lord. She studied and prayed so that everyone who met her would know Jesus Christ, a passion she passed onto her three children.
Pat is survived by her loving husband, James; two daughters Jill Stanley Lyons, of New Orleans and Jennifer (Vic) Thompson of Tyler; two loving sisters Ernestine Mallory of Tyler and Joandel Brock of Nashville; six grandchildren Kathleen D. (Michael) Reagan of Baton Rouge, Caroline (Clayton) Richardson of New Orleans, Rachel Bush of Tyler, Courtney (Tadd) Yates of Tyler, Austin Lyons of Austin and Jackson Thompson of Tyler; and four great-grandchildren Evelyn O. and Josephine O. Reagan of Baton Rouge, Anna and Henry Richardson of New Orleans; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, sisters and brothers-in-law.
She is proceeded in death by her parents and her son James O. Stanley III.
A special thanks to Hospice of East Texas for being an angel for our Mother and Briarcliff Nursing Facility for being daily caregivers the last several months.
A celebration of Patricia's life will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2019 at 11:00 a.m. at Glenwood Church of Christ with Dr. James Thompson officiating under the arrangement of Tyler Memorial Funeral Home.
