Patricia Joyce Potempa

Patricia Joyce Potempa, 89, of The Woodlands, Texas passed away July 12, 2026, one day before her 90th birthday. She was a devoted wife, cherished mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who was truly the matriarch of her large family.

Patricia is survived by her husband of 69 years, Louis Edward Potempa; her daughter Lisa Vlach and husband Bill of Omaha, Nebraska; daughter Cheryl Perry and husband David of The Woodlands, Texas; and daughter-in-law Marcia Potempa of Houston, Texas. She had 13 grandchildren: Melissa Erdei (Dan): Sarah Franklin (Joel); Tim Vlach; Jon Vlach (Mary); Taylor Vlach (Michelle); Emily Klein (Ryan); Katie Johnson (Stephen); Jacquelyne Boyer (Preston); Kyle Boe; Ryan Boe (Natalie); Paula Tran (Michael); Sophia Potempa; and Lilian Potempa. She also had nine great-grandchildren (soon to be 12) Julia, Nora, Sienna, Kinley, Victoria, Soren, Miles, Blaze, and Baker. She was preceded in death by her son Thomas Potempa.

Pat grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She was one of five children and was the valedictorian of her Jones High School graduating class. She met her husband Lou during high school and loved telling the story of how they were first introduced in Mrs. Palarmo’s Spanish class. While she did attend nursing school, she boasted that she received her M.R.S. degree on June 8, 1957. Pat was extremely active in raising her children and volunteering. She served on many school PTA boards, as a Catholic education teacher, Christian family movement leader, and cursillo teacher. She volunteered for St. Martha’s in Kingwood’s shut-in program, was president, on the board, “Member of the Year” and membership chairman of the Kingwood Hi-Neighbor group. She spent 15 years as a volunteer at the Kingwood Medical Center and received the “Life Membership” award. She had a beautiful voice and sang in many choirs. She loved playing golf and was president of the Westlake Golf League in Omaha, NE where she won a championship trophy. She and Lou loved to play duplicate bridge and she was a National Master.

Even with all her volunteer work, “Pats” as her husband affectionately called her, always had a delicious meal on the table every night. She understood the importance of family traditions and would cook for days to bring endless Thanksgiving and Christmas meals for the family to gather around. She could sew the most beautiful clothing, was an avid gardener, stain glass artist and loved raising her children and spoiling her grandchildren. Her love of family extended to her very extensive genealogy work. She traveled back to Poland to do deep research on her family and created dozens of binders documenting family lines back and distributed copies of this impressive legacy project to her loved ones.

Pat valued God and family above all else. She was a devoted daughter of God and an inspiring example to her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of love and family. She will be dearly missed.

Livestream:

A Visitation/Prayer Service will be held at Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home & Cemetery, 18000 Interstate 45 S, The Woodlands, TX 77384, US, on July 16, 2026, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm.

A celebration of Pat’s life will be held at Our Lady of the Angel Catholic Church, 8715 Kuykendahl Rd, Spring, TX 77382, on July 17, 2026, from 11:30 am to 12:30 pm with burial immediately following at Forest Park The Woodlands Cemetery.