Mary “Patricia” Rawlins passed into the hands of the Lord on April 1st, 2019 at the tender age of 100, four years short of her goal. Patricia, the eldest of four children, was born 13 December, 1918 in Wichita Falls, Texas to Wannie Lee and Alice Manser Burnside Bartley. Being an Army family, she moved frequently, living on Governor’s Island in New York harbor, Camp Gaillard in the Panama Canal Zone, Camp Knox, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., and San Antonio before her father retired in Fort Worth. In 1940, she graduated in three years with a math degree from Texas State College for Women, (TWU) in Denton, Texas. Patricia married 2nd Lt Phillip C. Rawlins (USA) of Ardmore, Oklahoma on 18 October, 1940 at Fort Sam Houston, raised three children and cared for her disabled mother while moving around the country, then around the world, living in Tokyo, Japan, Madrid, Spain and Clark AB in Philippines before her husband retired in Maryland in 1970. After her divorce, she married Lt Col. (USAF ret) Joseph W. Hensley on 20 January, 1974, moved to Groveton, Texas and used her many talents to promote Trinity County, Groveton ex-Students Association and traveled the hemisphere before moving to Dallas after Joe’s bypass surgery where she continued her painting. After his death on 10 May, 1996, she continued her writing and researched Texas Historical Markers. Patricia remarried Col. Phillip C. Rawlins (USAF ret) on 24 November, 2001 and moved to the Army Residence Community (ARC) in San Antonio. While still active, travel lessened with Phil’s declining health and passing on 4 October, 2008. Her son Phillip moved from Ohio in 2009 to assist her, even though Patricia remained in her own apartment. She was active with Army Daughters, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), joined Kiwanis and attended TWU reunions before a scooter accident on Mothers Day, 2015 put her into Health Care. Her increasingly restricted mobility did not dampen her zest for life. Patricia was an accomplished landscape artist and enjoyed cooking exotic dishes, Indian Curry being her favorite. She hired a personal caregiver, Ms Rachel Rubio, for companionship and to “keep her out of trouble” and this bond grew strong from mutual love and respect. Patricia fully expected to return home from this last hospitalization, but instead, she has returned home to the Lord.
She is preceded in death by her brother Samuel “Bud” Bartley of Hampton, Virginia; her sister Alice Fauver Gaston of Atlanta Texas; daughter “Ginger” Crisp of Fayetteville, Arkansas and daughter “Penny” Castruccio of Clarksville, Tennessee. She is survived by her brother Robert Bartley and his wife Edith of Fort Worth; son Phillip Rawlins of San Antonio, grandchildren, Kathy Parker, Terri Hurst, Ann Brooke, James Castruccio and Stephanie Rawlins; 9 great-grandchildren; numerous cousins, nieces and nephews.
Visitation hours at the Colonial Funeral Home at 625 Kitty Hawk Road, Universal City, Texas, 78148, will be from 2 to 4 pm on Thursday, 25 April, 2019.
A Memorial Service will be held in the Cheever Chapel at the Army Residence Community (ARC), 7400 Crestway Drive, San Antonio, Texas, 78239, at 11:00 am on 26 April 2019, followed by a reception in the ARC auditorium.
Interment will be at Ft. Sam Houston Cemetery, pavilion 3, San Antonio, Texas, 78239, at 2:30 pm on 26 April, 2019. The ARC is providing bus transportation to the cemetery with a reservation (210-646-5300).
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in her name to Railroad Museum, SAMRATX.org; the ARC Kiwanis Club Foundation or USDAR.
