Beverly Patterson

One of 12 children (of which she was the youngest of 11 girls), she was raised on a farm and attended Joy Consolidated School. She attended Wynnewood High School from 1947 to 1951, and upon graduation, moved to Oklahoma City where she attended Draughon’s Practical Business College. Afterwards, she moved to Ardmore, OK where she worked for Shell Oil Co. as a Production Secretary. While working there, she met Manford K. “Bud” Patterson, Jr., at the time a research scientist for the Noble Foundation. They dated 1½ years and were married in Wynnewood on August 21, 1953. They then moved to Norman, OK while Bud finished his masters in biochemistry at OU. After graduation, they moved back to Ardmore and their daughter, Shelley Lynne, was born in 1956. The family lived for a short time on N. Commerce while their house on Campbell was being built.

When Bud was offered the opportunity by Noble to obtain a PhD, they moved to Nashville, TN for him to attend Vanderbilt. It was an austere time for them both~ being married and neither working full time, having a child, and Bud attending school, but they had such fond memories of their four years in Nashville.

After moving back to Ardmore, Beverly attended Murray State College and Southeastern Oklahoma State University, where she obtained a B.A. in Education with honors. She then took many hours to obtain her masters, but the commuting finally precluded her from finishing. After her practice-teaching, she had a 26-year teaching career at Plainview Elementary School teaching 4th grade (and one year of 6th). She adored “her kids,” and our family always got the impression the kids reciprocated the feeling!

In 1977, they built a new home in SW Ardmore, where she began her love of gardening. She and Bud travelled extensively with his work and also for pleasure, taking trips to Europe, Asia, and many destinations in the U.S. They also enjoyed The Four Seasons dance club at Dornick Hills CC in Ardmore, and dressed up many evenings to “go dancing.”

In 1989, her only grandchild was born, Manford “Ford” Thomas Goetz in Edmond, and her focus shifted from Ardmore to Edmond. She and Bud retired in 1993, and while Bud was very active civically, Beverly enjoyed bridge with friends, home projects, gardening, the beaches of Destin, and having her daughter, son-in-law, and grandson visit.

She was preceded in death by her parents and ten of her siblings. She is survived by one dear sister, Pat Green of Wynnewood. She is also survived by her daughter Shelley Goetz and her husband Dan, of Edmond, OK; her grandson Ford Goetz, and his wife Julie, of Bozeman, MT, as well as 17 nieces and nephews.