She was 96 at the time of her death. She was born in Kansas City, MO, on January 30, 1923, the only child of Joseph H. Story, Jr. and Lucille R. Malone of 5604 Michigan Avenue, Kansas City, MO. When she enrolled in Paseo High School in 1937, she began calling herself Patricia. She graduated from Paseo in 1941 and enrolled in the Metropolitan Junior College in Kansas City, but left before graduating to become a “Rosie the Riveter” working at the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Company on Bannister Road during World War II where airplane engines were being built. During WWII she began corresponding with Earl A. “Hap” Dressler of Belleville, IL, who would later become her husband. Hap was stationed with Edward Haydon who was married to a friend of Pat’s, Ann, who put the two in contact. They were married on January 18, 1946, after Hap returned from his WWII service. They were married twice: in the First Baptist Church of her background, and in the St. James Roman Catholic Church of Hap’s. After the great Kansas City flood of 1951 nearly reached their East 25th Avenue, North Kansas City home, they moved to a newly built house on West 89th Terrace in south Kansas City where they raised their two children, Michael and Nancy. She was always striving for the best for her children supporting and encouraging them in their schooling and to the highest levels of the Boy and Girl Scouts. She was happy to stay at home while the children attended Center Schools, but later went to work first as a Kelly Girl temp and then as a seasonal IRS Tax Examiner at the IRS Service Center on Bannister Road.
When they moved to south Kansas City in 1951, Pat joined All Saints’ Episcopal Church just after its founding. At least three other families on 89th Terrace attended All Saints’ which may have influenced her attendance. She continued her lifelong love of singing by joining the choir there. She also loved bridge, hosting many bridge parties crowded into her small living room. She continued to play into her 80’s eventually outliving all of her bridge partners. Pat was also a big football and baseball fan and rooted for her Kansas City Chiefs and Royals even after she could no longer see to follow the televised games.
Family vacations and outings usually involved camping and fishing. Though not a fan of fishing, she famously caught a clam on one family vacation to Minnesota.
She was preceded in death by her husband Hap from lung cancer, January 22, 1989, and continued to live in the house they had built on Harrison Drive until dementia and the blindness of macular degeneration forced her into memory care in March of 2018.
She is survived by her son, Michael G. Dressler (Lisa) of Bay City, OR, and her daughter, Nancy D. Waters (Paul) of Overland Park, KS; her 3 grandchildren, Thomas and Molly Dressler, and Andrew Waters (Melanie) and 4 great-grandchildren: Christian, Colby, Caitlyn, and Cayla Waters.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mtmoriah.net for the Dressler family.
