Dr. Patricia Ann VanDecar

Dr. Patricia Ann (“Pat”) VanDecar, wife, step-mom nonpareil, teacher, academician, artist, gardener, friend, confidante, muse, idealist, editor, thrift-shop fashion maven, gourmet cook, oenophile, gift wrapper extraordinaire, loving wrangler of feral children and patron saint of the underdog died July 3, 2024 in Flowood, MS from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease.

She was born September 3, 1947 in Cohoes, NY, eldest of three children of Charles E. VanDecar and Annie Grace Wicks. The VanDecars were frequently on the move in government service and Pat attended eight different schools before she graduated from Loudon County, VA High School in 1965. In 1954 she met future husband Douglas Richardson in the second grade at Clinton, MS Elementary School, an event prescient and star-crossed: she was a princess in the school play; he was a dog--roles, down through the years, each was reluctant to abandon.

Pat received a B.A. degree from Birmingham Southern College, a Master’s Degree in Education from Georgia State University, and a Doctorate in Education from George Peabody College of Vanderbilt University where she was a Blumstein Scholar. She had previously taught public school in Nashville, TN and in Fulton Co, Georgia. Later, Pat was on the faculties of Georgia Southern University, Central Missouri State University, and Jackson State University in their departments of Social Studies

Education.

Her calling, and passion, was teaching.

Career achievements included Director of the Georgia Center for Law Related Education, Service Learning Coordinator for the Jackson Mississippi Public School System, Creative Arts Director at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and Assistant Professor of Education, Jackson State University.

Pat enjoyed travel, reading novels by authors no one ever heard of, and oil painting. Subscriptions to Foreign Policy Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly and Rolling Stone littered her nightstand. She was an expert on Native American history and culture. Pat could quote verbatim the eloquent surrender speech of Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (“From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever...”), but she preferred the surrender speech of Washakie, War Chief of the Shoshoni: “God damn a potato!”

Although she wasn’t perfect, her handwriting was: a fine Spenserian script that was the envy of anyone who has ever blotted ink on paper.

An earlier marriage to Wallace Kelvin Hitchcock ended in divorce.

Pat is preceded in death by her parents, brother Charles E. VanDecar, Jr. , and granddaughter Zia Richardson. She is survived by husband Dr. Douglas Richardson of Flowood, MS, sister Sheri (Chris) VanDecar of Lauder, Scotland, step-sons Jeffery (Morgan) Richardson, Jay (Jessica) Richardson, Kevin Richardson, and foster son Thomas M. Price, Jr. Her grandchildren Jaron Richardson, Talia Ramos, Isley Richardson, Madalyn Price and Jocelynn Staples were the lights of her life. Special, everlasting thanks are extended by Pat’s family to her loving, loyal and steadfast caregivers: Lashanda Parker, Ora Buchanan, Dinah Terry, and Leslie White.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at 2 PM at Lakewood Funeral Home, 6011 Clinton Blvd, Jackson, MS 39209. Visitation with family beginning at 12:30 PM will precede the service.

Pat would have appreciated memorial contributions in her name to any agency at work on behalf of the downtrodden, disadvantaged, neglected, displaced or mistreated (human and otherwise). Stewpot Ministries and the Animal Rescue Fund of MS, Inc. were among her favorite causes.