Ms. Patricia Ann Hunter

Patricia Ann Hunter never needed to go looking for a life anywhere else. She found everything that mattered right there in Johnson City, Tennessee, the town she called home for all 86 of her years.

Faith was planted in her early by her parents, Sherman Franklin and Bulah Gay Leonard, who preceded her in death, and it never left her. Patricia considered herself, above all else, a child of God, and that quiet, steady faith only grew stronger with every year she lived.

She married Worley Mark Hunter, Jr. and remained by his side for 63 years, not just married, but married the way people used to do it, through every season of life until his death parted them. That's the kind of number that stops people in their tracks. Sixty three years.

Patricia raised her children first. That came before anything else. Once they were in school, she went to work at East Tennessee State University's bookstore and later at the U.S. Post Office, the kind of jobs where you see the same faces again and again and come to know a town from behind the counter. She was dependable. She showed up for her family, and she showed up for her work, year after year, without much fuss.

She is survived by her daughter and son, Melea Kaye Hunter and Mark Eric Hunter, the two people who knew her the longest and best; her sister, Glenda Kay Harvey; her niece and nephew, Dawn Carcich (Emily Hammock) and Chad Harvey; Dawn's son, Gehrig Carcich; her brother, Michael "Mickey" Keith Leonard (Kathy); her nephews, Colton Leonard and Michael Leonard (Laura); and Michael's children, her great niece and great nephew, Laney and Lincoln.

It was Michael, Colton, and Gehrig who earned a title no one else did. Patricia called them her "Grandbaby Nephews," not a real term, not one you'll find anywhere else, just something she made up because plain old "nephew" didn't come close to describing how much she loved them.

To the people who knew her, and especially to those she loved, Patsy was present. She showed up for her husband through all their years together, for her children as she raised them, and for her family in all the ordinary, everyday ways that add up to a lifetime. She had a gentle way of making the people around her feel cared for simply by being there, again and again, without fail.

She will be deeply missed by her family and remembered as a woman of unwavering faith who gave the people in her life a steady, patient love.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Visitation will be held at Monte Vista Funeral Home & Memorial Park, 1900 E OAKLAND AVE, Johnson City, Tennessee 37601, on July 15, 2026, from 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm. A Celebration of Life will follow at Monte Vista Funeral Home & Memorial Park on July 15, 2026, from 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm, with a Graveside Committal at the same location on July 15, 2026, beginning at 2:00 pm.

This obituary, was lovingly prepared by Patricia's family.