Patricia Jane Hollenbeck

Patricia Jane Prest Hollenbeck, 74, of Glendale, AZ, passed thru this earthly existence on Sunday, Feb. 3. She was born Dec. 9, 1938 in Follansbee, WV, but was moved to Steubenville, OH at a very early age, and shortly after to Albion, PA where she attended schools, graduating high school in 1956. As a high school senior, she met a restless farm boy from the next town, Conneautville, PA. They started dating very soon after their high school graduation and shortly after decided to unite their destinies for the rest of their lives.

They decided that farm life was not to be their life, so they decided to put things on hold for him to work in a local factory for two years in order to save money for college. After his college graduation, they were married on June 25, 1962 and began their family in 1966. They celebrated 50 years together.

Pat has always been a big fan of all of Elvis’ music as well as Pavarotti’s “Ave Maria”. Her other favorite religious song was “How Great Thou Art”. She herself was very talented in music and had a beautiful singing voice. While in high school, she and her sister, Judy, had a weekend gig on a radio show in Ashtabula, OH billed at the time as “The best location in the nation,” singing duets and solos. Pat loved fun songs like “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavor on the Bedpost Overnight?” While in junior high and high school, she was the organist and pianist for her church.

Pat loved to cook and kept a meticulous house. In 1979, after enduring several winters in Pa., she and her family moved to Phoenix, AZ., where she made a warm and loving home for her family. She was referred by many as “Mrs. Cleaver” since her house was always perfect and her cooking was the best anywhere. Often neighborhood kids would smell her cooking down the street, especially her spaghetti and would ride their bikes to her house and ask to stay for dinner. She was referred to as “Mom” by the kids in the neighborhood who knew she was always for them with an open door, a caring heart and fresh brownies with nuts. Mom was kind, sympathetic, and comforting to all and was always asked for advice. She would do anything for anybody that needed help, including cooking, fundraising, and would literally give the shirt off her back…just don’t ask her to drive stick shift please. She was a very special woman with a great sense of humor for whom happiness was taking care of others which made her loved by everyone who met her.

Pat was an avid sports fan with football her favorite game. Weekends were regularly spent with a game on one TV while the granddaughters had cartoons on another. Summers were long waiting for pre-season football while many holidays revolved around the game. It’s fitting she passed on Super Bowl Sunday. She was able to enjoy a “skybox” view of the game. With a surprise power outage and come-from-behind near-win for the 49’ers, it was certainly memorable.

Patricia is survived by her husband, Rick, daughters, Lezlee (Garth) Alexander, Nicole Hollenbeck, and son Jeff Hollenbeck, as well as granddaughters Gillian Leigh and Tricia Jean, all of the Phoenix area. Her sister, Judith Brown, of North Carolina, survives as well as two sisters-in-law in PA, Marian Van Buren and Joyce Hollenbeck, and two brothers-in-law, John and Lawrence Hollenbeck, also in PA, and several nieces and nephews in both NC and PA. She has long contributed to the Lakota Indian children at: St. Joseph’s Indian School, Chamberlain, SD 57326. Contributions there in lieu of flowers would be greatly appreciated.