Catherine "Kay" Graves Patterson

Catherine “Kay” Frances Graves Patterson died at home on Saturday, April 29, 2023; she was 85 years old. A Requiem Eucharist will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Cathedral on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 2:00 pm with interment following in the church columbarium. Visitation will begin at 12:30 pm in the Parish Hall.

Kay was born on April 23, 1938, in Jackson, Mississippi. She was the eldest child of the late Catherine Ferguson Graves and Frank Merritt Graves. Their family lived on Macy Street across from the Jackson Zoo and occasionally were visited by peacocks in their yard. She was a Girl Scout in the troop led by her mother.

Kay attended Whitfield Elementary School, Enochs Junior High School, and Central High School, where she played the flute in the band. She graduated from Provine High School in 1956 as part of the inaugural senior class.

Kay graduated from Mississippi University for Women in 1960 with a degree in Education. In college, Kay was a member of the Silhouette social club. After college, she taught second grade in the Jackson Public School system at Boyd Elementary School. Kay received her Master’s in Education from Mississippi College.

After refusing to go on a date with Thomas Patterson for months because he was “just too wild,” she finally agreed to give him a chance. She and Thomas were married on August 1, 1964, at Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson (her parents were married there in 1936). On May 20, 1979, Kay and Thomas were confirmed at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral where they were active congregants for the rest of their lives. They were married until Thomas’ death on August 28, 2014 - for fifty years. She spent the last 12 years of his life lovingly caring for him on his journey through Alzheimer’s.

In 1971, at the beginning of its creation, Kay went to work for Mississippi Educational Television (now known as MPB). At ETV, Kay worked as a liaison between the new station and Mississippi schools to help the station aid in remote learning for schools in Mississippi. This was a job she loved and would come back to later in life. She first retired in 1979 when Thomas and Kay’s one child, Frances Catherine, was born. In 1996, she returned to work with MPB with a project to place satellite learning technology in MS schools to help teachers reach more than one classroom at a time with new technology - a precursor to the online classrooms of today. She retired from MPB as Deputy Executive Director in 2003.

Throughout her career, she also worked as the bookkeeper for Thomas Patterson Insurance Agency as she was the only person Thomas actually trusted to do the job.

Kay and Thomas loved to travel and camp and were indefatigable volunteers for the organizations that meant the most to them. For Kay, that included St. Andrew’s Episcopal School where she served as President of the St. Andrew’s Parents’ Association (SAPA) from 1992-1993 and as a member of the Board of Trustees from 1992 to 2000.

One of the loves of her life was being a member of the choir of St. Andrew’s Cathedral. Even in her 80s, she sang in the Soprano section almost every Sunday. She and Thomas were also past chairs of the Cathedral bazaar and jazz brunch. Kay also served as a volunteer for Ballet Mississippi and the Mississippi Symphony Orchestra. She was a member of the Monday Club, the Thursday Luncheon Club, and the Debutante Mothers Club.

Catherine is preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Bell Patterson, her mother, Catherine Ferguson Graves, and her father, Frank Merritt Graves.

Catherine is survived by her daughter, Frances Patterson Croft, her husband, Justin Croft, and her three grandchildren, Justin Benjamin “Ben” Croft, Thomas Graves Croft, and Catherine Frances Croft, all of Jackson.

She is also survived by her two sisters Rebecca Graves Smith, and her husband, Jim, and Sharon Shanlever Kelley, and her husband, Ron, all of Foley, Alabama. Additionally, Kay is survived by nephews, nieces, and many cousins whom she loved very much.

We would like to thank Dr. Ruth Fredericks for her support of Kay and Thomas - an extraordinary doctor and, most importantly, a kind person and friend.

Memorials may be made to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral at https://standrews.ms/giving/ or St. Andrew’s Episcopal School at www.gosaints.org/memorialgifts.

Parkway Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.