Patricia Patti P Pendergraft Singleton

(May 10, 1929-Oct. 26, 2015)

Patricia P. Singleton, 86, died in her Belleair FL home of heart failure in the presence of her husband of 34 years, Franklin Jay Singleton, on Monday Oct. 26, 2015.

She was born to the late Lorraine and Hugh Pendergraft in Los Angeles, California May 10, 1929 and has a younger sister, Sue Pendergraft Gerst, who survives her. She worked as a professional model in Kansas City before moving to Evansville IN where she was in nurses training and met and married her first husband, John C. (Bud) Finke in 1948 with whom she subsequently had three children (Lynn Finke Roberts, John C. Finke, Jr. and Laura Finke Mc Coy).

During her Indiana years she did some additional modeling, was an accomplished artist and was active in the Junior League. After working in her husband’s carpeting company she launched her very successful career as the owner and chief interior designer for Newburgh Galleries. Her business soon expanded to include two locations offering fine furnishings, artwork and custom framing. She divorced her first husband in 1976.

In 1978 she met F. Jay Singleton, President and CEO of L. E. Carpenter & Co., a producer of contract wallcoverings, in New Jersey. They were married on June 1, 1981 and lived in New Jersey where she established Patricia Singleton Interiors and resumed her art career. Jay had two children (Terry Singleton and Bonnie Singleton Ayers) and their blended family was a great joy and would ultimately include 12 grandchildren and 9 great grandchildren.

When Jay retired from the corporate world they decided to permanently relocate to Bellair, FL where they became members of the Belleair Country Club and enjoyed golf and bridge. They also were members of the Anona United Methodist Church in Largo, FL. Patricia continued to paint and did some of her most beautiful work in her studio in their exquisite home in Belleair. Although retired from her business, Patricia did one last “job” creating a very special interior for dear friends in 2014.

Patricia Singleton was a beautiful, talented person and a loving wife and grandmother and will be sorely missed by her family and many friends who may celebrate her life in a Memorial Service on Nov. 7th 2015 at the Serenity Funeral Home, 13401 Indian Rocks Rd. Largo FL at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers the family would like donations in her memory to the American Heart Association https://donatenow.heart.org and/or the Abilities Foundation of Clearwater FL http://www.abilitiesfoundation.com