Obituary for Pat Adcock

Pat Adcock, 81, who was loved by many, passed away peacefully on November 16, 2018 at St. Ann’s Hospital in Westerville. She was a cancer survivor (lymphoma) and also survived skin cancer this summer by having eyelid surgery. She was strong and took care of others, although a fall resulting in head trauma was too much for her to overcome that led to the last few months of her life. Her sparkling blue eyes lit up and she shared her final happy smile with her only grandchild, Matthew.

Born in Perry County (Glenford, OH) to Guy and Lottie Cotterman, Pat was the youngest of her siblings (Lee, Eileen, Margie, Sandi, and Bob). She entered the world as a surprise to all, and became a joy to many.

Pat is survived by her devoted husband (Jim) of 61 years, two loving daughters (Kristi and Tami), and is "Mammy" to one amazing grandson (Matthew). She is also survived by two dear sisters (Marjorie and Sandi), sisters-in-law (Judy, Heddi, and Cheryl) and brother-in-law (Bill), in addition to many nieces, nephews, cousins, and lifelong friends.

Pat and Jim were married in November 1957 and spent 61 beautiful years together. They met square dancing and enjoyed the Promenaders dancing away for years. In the early years of their marriage, Jim was in the Army and they were stationed in Kennewick, WA near Camp Hanford (a missile base). Pat worked for General Electric in the middle of a barricaded area guarded by five underground missile sites as they made plutonium that was put into bombs.

After the Army, Pat and Jim had two daughters in Ohio. Having lost her own mother before she was 30, Pat was blessed to have spent so many years with her own daughters. They were best friends, talking every day and sharing their lives, living only minutes away from each other. She truly lived for her family.

Pat lived most of her life in or near Westerville and retired after 39 years at Otterbein College. She absolutely enjoyed being at Otterbein from 1970 to 2009 with wonderful colleagues and being secretary to the best Vice Presidents. Her daughter, Kristi, attended and graduated from Otterbein College – Pat enjoyed being able to drop by her dorm room. Even when her youngest daughter Tami was in kindergarten, she was dropped off by the school bus at Otterbein to the Red Tub.

Some of Pat’s favorite things were keeping an immaculate house, working in her yard, birds, giraffes, OSU football and Otterbein basketball, Otterbein theatre performances, Branson, Wayne Newton, Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, and being a band booster with Westerville South High School – traveling on the band bus with her daughters to competitions. Pat also played the saxophone in high school and won a contest playing Saxophobia!

Pat and Jim rode a Gold Wing motorcycle across every state east of the Mississippi. They had great fun riding with fantastic friends. Pat would even sleep on the motorcycle, alerting Jim when her helmet would bump into his. They traveled over 100,000 miles together. Pat was adventurous – one of the reason’s Jim fell in love with her.

She loved socializing and had lifelong friendships with fabulous friends. Pat enjoyed going to parties and also held memorable ones for her family that are still talked about today. She always wanted to be around people and shared her endless energy and love.

Family togetherness was a way of life for Pat. She knew how to create special memories whether it was family bike rides or going to festivals, Pat made sure the family was together. This continued throughout her life as her children and grandchild grew up with the entire family going to Disney, Las Vegas, Amish country, holding game night, and jumping into one car to go out and celebrate special events – even driving across the country together!

Ice cream was her favorite treat – especially a “tin roof” which is vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and peanuts. Growing up, Pat and her siblings would get ice from the creek plus milk and eggs from their animals and make homemade ice cream. Being the youngest, she would stand on top of the ice cream mixer as her siblings turned the crank.

Pat loved animals and her family had many beloved pets throughout the years with the favorites being guinea pigs and dogs. In memory donations can be made to Franklin County Dog Shelter.

Thank you for celebrating Pat’s life and sharing in her precious memories.