Patricia Pat Gallaway SoRelle Heumann

Patricia SoRelle Heumann, beloved wife and mother, passed away on Tuesday, December 10, 2013, at age 87. She is survived by J. Roger Heumann, her husband for 67 years; son J. Mark Heumann; granddaughter Kara N. Heumann and daughter-in-law Jan L. Heumann of Austin, Texas; sister, Martha SoRelle Palmer of Charlottesville, Virginia; niece Anna Palmer Teran of Dallas, Texas; and other nieces and nephews.

Family and friends gathered to celebrate Patricia's life at a memorial service on Friday, December 20th, at 1:00 p.m. in the chapel of First Presbyterian Church Kingwood, 5520 Kingwood Drive, Humble Texas 77345, (281) 360-5555. She will be interred at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, next to her sons Scott Fredric and Roger Brett.

Biography

Patricia Heumann was born Patricia SoRelle in Mexia, Texas, on January 17, 1926. She was the youngest of seven children of Bernis SoRelle, oilman, and Marion Hess SoRelle, teacher.

Her father became, eventually, Vice President of Pure Oil for the Southern Region. He built a house in Fort Worth, where Patricia spent her youth with her three brothers and three sisters.

When Patricia was 16, her father died. By then, they had moved to Dallas, where she attended Highland Park High School. She, her sisters and friends, and their friends would get together to listen to classical music. Among those young people was Roger Heumann, a student first at Highland Park, then at SMU.

At 18, she and Roger married. It was the end of World War II. Roger was in the Army Air Corps and expecting to be transferred overseas as part of the Army of Occupation. Instead, he was discharged, and Patricia and Roger moved to Norman, Oklahoma, where Roger could finish his education in chemical engineering.

Soon thereafter, in 1947, their first son, Mark, was born. The three went where Roger's job with Standard Oil took him. By 1954 they had three boys, Mark, Scott, and Brett, and a few years later the family moved from Oklahoma City to Houston, which is still their home after almost 60 years.

Music was always part of the family's life: the symphony and especially the opera. As her children finished high school and went to college, Patricia was active in the C. G. Jung Center and associated groups, and at one point she travelled to Zurich, Switzerland, for a conference on Carl Jung's teachings about psychology.

When Scott finished college, it was Patricia's turn. She attended the University of Houston and graduated with a bachelor's degree in English and German. While there, she and Roger made friends with a South African couple and eventually visited South Africa as their guests.

As Roger approached retirement, he was given overseas assignments. He and Patricia went to Germany, then, on their own, to Belgium, England, Australia, Canada, the Bahamas, and Alaska. At home, they had season tickets to Houston Grand Opera, where Scott was Dramaturg until his death in 1993. Her youngest, Brett, died in 2000.

In her latter days, Patricia had to give up attending the opera. However, she occupied herself with reading and especially with listening to music. Her favorite was art songs by soloists like Renée Fleming (a friend of Scott's), Cecilia Bartoli, Felicity Lott, and Brian Asawa.

With sadness, we mourn her passing:

J. Roger Heumann, her husband for 67 years

J. Mark Heumann, her devoted son

Martha S. Palmer, her sister

Kara N. Heumann, her grand-daughter

Jan Heumann, her daughter-in-law

Anna "Missy" Teràn, her beloved niece

and neighbors who have provided love and support to the family over the past six months and long before.