Patricia Arnett McDonald

In death, she joins her husband John McDonald, who died last December. They met dancing in 2002. Together they built a beautiful life based in central Ohio near family. As retirees and grandparents, they filled their calendars with shared loves of laughter, travel, sports – both of grandchildren and Buckeyes, golf, music, bridge, church and family. Patricia blended their families of adult children hosting Meal of the Month. She fostered community with her new neighbors launching Cocktails on the Crescent. If you knew them, your birthday probably started with a phone call serenade. John was up for anything and didn’t want to be left out. And Patricia was an accomplished manager.

Before their marriage, Pat Arnett worked in real estate title insurance as president of Benchmark Title Agency, which was owned by Ice Miller law firm, formerly Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn. She cultivated a loyal team that earned the respect of clients and industry peers. Before being tapped to launch this business in 1984, she served the law firm as a paralegal and legal secretary. Her mentor was Mel Schottenstein, for whom she worked when she first came to Columbus.

Patricia came to Columbus in 1960 with her husband Norman L. Arnett (1937-2016), who attended the Ohio State University. To raise their family, they moved to Bexley, a community Patricia first experienced as a Buckeye Girls State delegate. She and her children made life-long friends on North Ardmore Road. The Bexley United Methodist Church community became extended family. She sang in the choir, taught Sunday school and served as a trustee. Patricia worked part-time, led parents’ organizations and community efforts, and ran her household masterfully. She took to heart her mother’s advice to prioritize a family vacation each year: Many years that vacation took the form of tent camping, which may not have felt like vacation for the parents. She ensured her kids participated in extracurricular activities, including music lessons and summer enrichment. She afforded them experiences and the college education she so wanted. She hosted neighborhood kids on any day and her extended family for thanksgiving. In her hands, homemade birthday party invitations, Halloween costumes, Christmas and Easter celebrations were magical. She fostered a gratitude attitude with her insistence on thank you notes and developed a habit of mailing greeting cards for every occasion.

Born “Patty” Jane Karnes on April 28, 1940, in Defiance, Ohio, to Donibelle and Chester Karnes, Patricia’s earliest memory was taking medicine with her father in her family’s farmhouse kitchen. They were quarantined with scarlet fever, which took her father’s life and left behind a young mother of three during WWII. Patty’s mother moved to town, found a job and remarried. A neighbor took a young Patty and her older sister to church. Throughout her life, Patricia credited this neighbor for sparking faith and giving her the gift of never feeling alone, because she had a friend in Jesus. Patty helped her mother to raise three brothers and a sister. Three-year-old sister Cathy presented Patty’s homecoming queen crown in 1957.

Patricia is survived by all six of her siblings and their spouses: Darlene & Ben Londeree, David & Lee Karnes, Dan & Jill Burnett, Dick & Richard Burnett, Bud & Gaye Burnett, Cathy & Rick Davis. And by her aunt: Shirley Lamb Keller.

Her children and grandchildren: Amy Arnett & Ron Budzik, Drake, Claire, Luke; Stephen & Hollie Arnett, Macy, Nina, London, Autumn; Sarah Arnett, Dannie, Emily; Alex McDonald & John Stewart; Duke McDonald, Sarah, Nathan, Jacob; Julie & Michael Detwiler; Katie & Brent Gledhill, Madelaine, Rowan; Alyson & Eric Gledhill.

Visitation will be held on Friday, November 7, 2025, from 10:00am – 11:00am at Bexley United Methodist Church, 2657 East Broad Street, Bexley, OH 43209, with Patricia’s funeral service beginning at 11:00am. A celebration and reception will be held following the service at Rocky Fork Hunt & Country Club, 5189 Clark State Road, Gahanna, OH 43230, from 12:30pm – 3:30pm.

Patricia and John McDonald are interred together in Maplewood Cemetery in New Albany, Ohio, with monuments placed in their family plots in Defiance, Ohio, and Galion, Ohio, respectively.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Patricia's memory may be made to Dementia Society of America, https://dementiasociety.charityproud.org/donate