Pat Cates Sharp

Dearly beloved Patricia “Pat” Cates Sharp passed away in her home on April 1. Born November 24, 1946 in Lumberton, North Carolina she was the ultimate Steel Magnolia. She was a true Carolina Girl and Georgia Southern Belle. Having crossed the Rainbow Bridge she is now in a field of flowers in Heaven playing with her beloved Bernese Mountain Dog, Peyton, where they wait for her life partner, lover, and eternal soulmate of 40 years, Aven. God’s Angels watch over her now while she waits for him to join her.

Pat was a strong and accomplished woman who loved all of God’s animals and relished telling stories to make people laugh. Being a Carolina Girl she loved to Shag Dance to Carolina Beach Music. She attended Walter Williams High School in Burlington NC and the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. She worked for several companies including Abbott Laboratories, Covington Diesel, Inc. and McPherson Monogram Inc. in Greensboro before finding her niche as an Interior Designer having started her own successful decorating business. She carried on her decorating while living on Skidaway Island in Savannah, GA until moving to the Atlanta area. While living in Marietta, GA she volunteered as a panel member for the Cobb County Juvenile Court all the while doing her decorating and pursuing her ultimate dream of attending the Horsin’ Around Carousel Animal Carving School, a master carving school at the base of Lookout Mountain, TN. She was gifted with a wonderful creative talent and became a master wood carver of full sized carousel animals. She has several of her favorite animals on the old Atlanta Grant Park Carousel works which now resides in Chattanooga’s Coolidge Park located on the Tennessee River still delighting people of all ages and from all over the world. She had even once been featured in a human interest article in the Atlanta Journal & Constitution for her work.

While living in West Texas she befriended a herd of rescue horses at a ranch near her home in Midland and one in particular known as Big Red was the daily beneficiary of a loaf of wheat bread. Pat loved to ride horses and travel with Aven. She was able to visit several countries and places stateside but her most favorite being a grand hotel sitting high on a bluff overlooking the Upper St. Lawrence Seaway in Charlevoix, Canada where they celebrated their anniversary in later years.

Pat is predeceased by her parents Kathleen Norton Cates and Marvin Clifton Cates. She is survived by sons Robert B. Morehead of North Branch MI, Todd Morehead of Stuart VA, sister Brenda Thompson of Greensboro and her most precious granddaughter Karissa Bliss Morehead of Athens GA as well as her numerous loving “Cates Clan Cousins” living in the Triangle area of North Carolina, the most special being Snodean Logan and husband Russell in Mebane, NC.

Memorial Services will be scheduled at a future date for friends and family in GA and NC.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis TN, to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation or any house of worship or charity of your choice.