Elizabeth Ann (Smith) Patterson Obituary

Elizabeth Ann Patterson, or "Liz" to her dearest, passed away peacefully on July 30th at the age of ...oops she never liked giving that number out so let's just say in April she had celebrated her 30th birthday.. for the 47th time.

Liz's devotedly patient husband Neal saw each of them 30th birthdays save these last 5, but to be fair he had begun forgetting to get so much as a birthday card until the last minute a full 5 years before that 30 year milestone, to this patient man she was the anchor holding things steadfast as well as the lighthouse forever guiding him home.

To her 3 children, sons Kelly Wayne Patterson of Texas City, Kevin Neal Patterson of Belize and daughter Kimberly Beth Schmidt-Patterson of League City, Mom was more like a foghorn on a sea buoy than the bright light of the lighthouse, they are both there to guide you thru troubled waters and dark times but one of them is so much louder and some may say effective at its task.

Neal her patient sailor provided Liz the additional title of Stepmother when Russell Lowenthal of Florida and Tami Hellman of Hawaii were counted into the crew. Liz embraced this role with open arms and a comfortable home, much like a marina where there was always an open berth available.

With this first generation of 5 set Liz's next saw her crew expand when First Grand daughter Laurie Lowenthal joined them followed by First Grandson Ryan and then brother Sean Hellman it was next came Laurie's Lil brother Grandson Lucas Lowenthal.

Then came a lull in the seas after MeMaw's granddaughter Tiphanie Rose Patterson left on her forever cruise before any of us got to know her.

Again the seas picked up and the crew was joined by Tiphanie's brother Grandson Zachary Patterson followed by his brother, Grandson Konnor Patterson who only just barely beat out his cousin Grandson Logan Schmidt, to not be the youngest of the generation. While Logan will always be the youngest of this generation he was not the last to join the crew. It was not long before Tiphanie's step sister Tess Varnadoe-Kearns joined this motley crew.

For anyone that has lost count as we have met the crew the 2nd generation has now been set with 9 Grandchildren.

With the legacy of Liz and Neals 1st and now 2nd generations set it seemed as if a mere blink of an eye had passed and there was MeMaw (Liz) beaming with the joy of Great Grandmother, a new title for her to bask in.
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First granddaughter Laurie, now sporting the shared surname of her wife Ainsley Thrailkill brought a great grandson to the ever expanding crew with their son Ty. And first grandson Ryan along with his wife Zizhi brought sons Leo and Emerson along with their sister Amery into the fold. It was only this past December when Konnor who had very nearly been the baby of the last generation brought his son Dean in as the last great grandchild Liz had the joy of holding.

Again for those that haven't been counting that makes 5 great grand kids.

And just to see it all together Liz and Neal have left behind 5 children, 9 grand children and 5 great grand children. I do believe they will be missed.

And if there's one thing I am certain of when Mom got to the terminal for her forever cruise Neal was standing there at the gangway and told her "it's good to see you darling now come aboard and heave them lines because we're late. Your mother (Elizabeth Gertrude) and daddy (JM "Buster" Smith) are way ahead of us but them brothers of yours (Kenneth "KEO" Smith and Ray Smith) I believe we may be able to catch up to."

Bon Voyage you two!