Patricia Cline Holmes

Patricia was born on June 14th, 1939, in Austin, Texas, to Prof. Clarence Lee Cline and Henriette Fechenbach Cline. She graduated as salutatorian from Austin High School in 1957, then attended Wellesley College in Boston, MA, graduating with honors in English and French.

After graduation, she returned to Texas where she became a high school teacher. A year later, she married her high school sweetheart, James R. (Jim Bob) Holmes, and they made their home in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later in Seabrook, Maryland, as they followed work assignments with Control Data Corporation. In 1966, they moved back to Austin where Pat and Jim Bob raised their kids through 1972, then moved to Clear Lake City, south of Houston, to pursue careers at NASA/Johnson Space Center.

Pat’s second career was supporting the U.S. space program where she relished her roles as manager for the space shuttle documentation program and later as administrator for Ford Aerospace and SBS Engineering, both in the flight simulation industry. Pat was highly regarded professionally and was the recipient of several awards for high performance and leadership. While at Ford Aerospace, she met and later married her second husband, Charles Wayne Heeter, until his passing from heart disease in 2005.

Patricia’s main passions were music (she played viola with the University Junior String Project and later in life at her church and was an avid opera and symphony supporter), competitive bridge tournaments, and her cats. She fell in love with the Birman breed and spent almost twenty years competitively showing and breeding these loving cats who also gave her much comfort in her later years.

Patricia was predeceased by her parents, and husband Wayne Heeter. She is survived by her sister, Judy Cline Harrison and her husband John Harrison IV, PhD of Austin, son Col. Lee Holmes and wife Susan Holmes of Shreveport, daughter Judy Holmes Goode and husband Jay Goode of Coppell, and grandchildren Andrew Holmes, Jessica Goode, James Goode, and nephews John and Robert Harrison.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in her honor to the Wounded Warrior Project or the ASPCA.

A memorial service will be held in Austin at the Weed Corley Fish Funeral Home on Saturday, February 12, 2022 at 1:00pm. Note new address: 5416 Parkcrest Dr., Austin, TX. 78731.