Patricia Steiner Kearns, 86, passed away on June 16, 2023, with her daughters at her side. Pat was born on May 17, 1937, in the Panama Canal Zone, and attended Balboa High School and the Canal Zone Junior College.
In 1959, she met and married her husband, James R. Kearns (Jim), who was stationed in Panama with the U.S. Army, and then began a life of traveling the world, raising three children, completing her education, and returning to the work force. After living in Michigan, North Carolina, Northern Virginia, and California, the family moved to Germany for their first tour. While her husband was in Vietnam, Pat and the three kids returned to Panama, where she spent time with her family, worked, raised the children and awaited Jim’s return. A move to Texas was next, and it was at this point that Pat attended and graduated from Incarnate Word College in San Antonio, receiving a Bachelor’s in Business Administration. She then graduated from Trinity University, also in San Antonio, with a Master’s in Health Care Administration, being one of the few females in her graduating class. After an internship at Brooke Army Medical Center at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, the family returned to Germany, and three years later moved to Williamsburg. In Virginia, Pat worked at the hospitals at Fort Eustis and Langley Air Force Base, and at the Andrews Air Force Base hospital in Maryland. Her work was primarily in the areas of quality assurance and risk management, fields that she truly enjoyed. She also achieved a Fellowship in the American Academy of Healthcare Administrators.
In between all of this, Pat and Jim raised their three children, instilling in them strong values, helping with homework, getting them to and from school, sports practices and events, especially years of swimming. Pat wanted the kids to continue their swimming in Germany, so she signed them up for the local German swim team, even though no one spoke a word of German.
Pat was a member of the Olde Towne Medical Center Board for a number of years, and was very active as a member of the Panama Canal Museum Board. Once retired, Pat helped care for her two local granddaughters after school and in the summer, and spent time with the rest of the grandchildren and her children. She was also involved with healthcare consulting, and volunteered at the Williamsburg Famers Market and at the front desk at Riverside Doctor’s Hospital.
Pat is preceded in death by her husband, James R. Kearns (Jim), her son, James R. Kearns, Jr. (Jimmy), her siblings, Kathleen Bennett, Jerome (Romey) Steiner, and John (Johnny) Steiner, and her cousins (like siblings), Anne Severy and Larry Siegel. She is survived by her daughters, Colleen Killilea and Annette Couch, both of Williamsburg; her daughter-in-law Diane Kearns; and her eight grandchildren - Brian and Elizabeth Kearns, Megan and Bridget Killilea, Stephanie, Michelle, Alex and Marianne Couch; her sister, Joanne Robinson; her brother, Allen Steiner (wife Charley), as well as her cousin (like sibling) Mitzi Beers (husband Bob); and a number of nieces and nephews.
Pat was a wonderful and loving wife, mother, grandmother, and friend. Family was one of the most important things to her, and she was always willing to help others. She will be greatly missed.
The family would like to thank Charlotte Hill and Elaine Rodney for the exceptional care that they provided to Pat in the later years of her life, as well as the staff at the Windsor Meade Memory Unit.
In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that donations be made in her name to the Alzheimer’s Association, https://www.alz.org/ .
A Funeral Mass will be held on Tuesday, June 27th at 11:00 AM at St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Road, Williamsburg VA.
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