Patricia Lewis Williams

Patricia Lewis (Green) Williams, 91, of Centennial, Colorado, went home to be with the Lord on Friday, July 6th, 2018. Patricia was born on August 17, 1926, in Houston, Texas to Edith Mae Moore of Tennessee, and Lewis Sterling Green Jr. of Texas.

Patricia, known to most as Pat, or Patty, was raised in Houston with her older sister Beth. Their family taught the classic southern traditions of proper manners and debutante ethics. These disciplines remained with her throughout life and positively influenced so many of her friends and family. Notably, early in life, they helped accelerate her education where she skipped the 3rd grade and graduated at age 16. Tragically, her father passed away at age 35 which eventually resulted in a move to Austin Texas where Pat attended Stephen F. Austin High School. After graduation, her outstanding skills with grammar, writing, and the ability to type up to 95 words a minute, earned her a job as a secretary in the Texas State Capital Department of Transportation. It was that year she met the love of her life Billy Freeman Williams who was a young, energetic Army Air Corp Instructor pilot stationed at Bergstrom Army Air Base. They married February 26, 1944 at the First Baptist Church in Austin and welcomed their first son Dan in 1945.

Following the war, Pat and Billy moved to Idaho in 1946 where they purchased and operated a small 30-acre dairy farm near Boise until 1948. Pat was a city girl and “shock” was an understatement for her new life as a dairy farmer in western Idaho. However, it began the adventure of her life where she learned to ride horses, raise and milk dairy cattle, hunt (as an observer only), and camp. It didn’t take long for she and Billy to figure out that Dairy Farming “barely earned just enough to pay the bills” as she so often described. They soon sold the farm and moved to Moscow, Idaho where Billy finished his degree in Dairy Husbandry at the University of Idaho in 1950. That year they were blessed with the arrival of their daughter Catherine Ann (Cathy). After graduation, they moved to Salinas, California where Billy worked as a ‘field man’ for Sego Milk Company while Pat was busy raising the family. During that period, they were recalled to Active duty in the U.S Air Force.

In the Air Force, Pat and Billy moved often with military tours at Ohio’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa Japan where their son John was born in 1955, Arkansas’ Little Rock Air Force Base, Louisiana’s Barksdale Air Force Base where their child Scott was born in 1959, and finally, Colorado’s Lowry Air Force Base where Billy retired in 1969. Throughout their career, Pat was dedicated to the Officer Wives Club and tirelessly worked in the famous Red Cross volunteer group “The Grey Ladies” where she dedicated countless hours providing assistance to local hospitals, blood centers, and disaster response. Little was she aware that the skills she learned as a Grey Lady prepared her to give the ultimate care to her daughter Cathy that was stricken with severe rheumatoid arthritis in 1963.

Family, keeping a meticulous house, and politics were Pat’s discipline and interests. However, Pat’s passion was ensuring her family attended church. It wasn’t until their move to Colorado that she learned the true meaning of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone that changed her life forever. Rarely outspoken publicly, her silent witness as a committed Christian provided an everlasting influence and example for her husband, family, and countless others she most likely never knew she touched. She and Billy went on to establish as founding members, Faith Presbyterian Church Aurora that eventually helped launch both Cherry Creek Presbyterian in Englewood, and Cherry Hills Community in Highlands Ranch. In the early years, Pat’s secretary skills helped the church by creating, typing and printing the Sunday bulletins. Later she and Billy became leaders in the church youth groups as well as the parachurch ministry, Young Life. She loved and rarely missed Sunday school as well as her Koinonia group family. Pat’s dedication to her faith and friends will be truly missed.

Patricia is preceded in death by her daughter Catherine Ann, who passed in April 1975 and husband Billy Freeman who passed last year in February 2017. She is survived by sons Daniel Sterling (Julie) of Aurora, Colorado, John Edward (Debbie) of Kennesaw, Georgia, and Scott Allen (Sarah) of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, 11 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren and one great, great grandchild.

She is also preceded in death by her sister Clida Beth.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are suggested to the Denver Rescue Mission, www.denverrescuemission.org., or a Veterans Program of your choice.

Visitation will be held Thursday, July 12, 2018 from 4:00-7:00 pm at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary, 6601 S Colorado Blvd, Centennial, CO 80121. Committal Service will be Friday, July 13, 2018 at 9:00 am at Fort Logan National Cemetery - Staging Area A, 4400 W Kenyon Ave, Denver, CO 80236. A Memorial Service will begin at 1:00 pm, Saturday, July 14, 2018 at Cherry Creek Presbyterian Church, 10150 E Belleview Ave, Greenwood Village, CO 80111 followed immediately by a Celebration of Life Reception.