Elizabeth Bolton Patton

Elizabeth Bolton Patton, known as Judy, died at her Athens residence Friday, March 4, 2022. Miss Patton, born in Athens, May 27, 1936, was the daughter of David Uriah Patton and Elizabeth Matson Riddle Patton. She was a member of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church, Athens.

She graduated from Athens High School and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa where she was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority; she earned an MA at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Miss Patton began her work as librarian of the Randolph School in Huntsville, then taught at the American School in Brindisi, Italy. Well-traveled, well read and having a keen aesthetic sense, she developed a special interest in indigenous arts and crafts. Miss Patton began assisting her mother’s antique business which soon was turned over to her. In her later years she enjoyed the beauty of a fine landscape at her home, cultivated by her excellent gardeners.

Miss Patton, a descendant of early settlers in Alabama, was affiliated with the Daughters of the American Revolution and the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. Her family were her many cousins. On both sides Judy was the eldest of her generation. She outlived four cousins: Elizabeth Morris Legge Dunn of Birmingham, Jenny Lind Patton Riddle of Decatur, Cruse Patton Nolen Bevill of Birmingham, and Irene Nolen Clark of Huntsville, a loss she deeply felt.

Judy is survived by her cousins Roy Bolton Patton, III, Winston Vaughn Legge, Jr. and Helen Christopher Patton Higgins, all of Athens; Irene Curtis Parker Flowers, Alice Lonsdale Nolen Glennon and Robert Brown Nolen, Jr., all of Florence; Richard Harris Parker, Jr., of Tuscumbia; David Patton Parker of Wilmington, NC; Mamie Dare Patton Evans of Cullman; Mary Jon Patton Hicks of Nashville; and James Pollard Clark of Huntsville. She is also survived by the fine friends of her bridge club, her attentive and much appreciated neighbors, and by her devoted helpers, Jimmy Harold Lewis, Jr., and Tommy Bice.

The funeral will be at St. Timothy’s on Wednesday, March 9, at 3PM, with burial following at Athens City Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Winston Vaughn Legge, Jr., Roy Bolton Patton, III, Richard Harris Parker, Jr., David Patton Parker, Robert Brown Nolen, Jr., James Pollard Clark, Jr., Jimmy Harold Lewis, Jr., and Tommy Bice. McConnell Funeral Home is assisting the family.