Patricia Drollinger

Patricia was born on July 29th, 1930, in Colville, WA to Bertha and Lee Bleasner. When she was still a young girl the family moved to Spokane, WA and lived in a house on Francis Street. After school, Pat loved to walk to the little branch library, and she checked out and read every dog and horse story the library had. Eventually, the Bleasner family moved out to the Five Mile Prairie neighborhood of North Spokane. Pat attended Mead Highschool where she graduated valedictorian of her class. While riding the bus to school every day, Pat and her friends liked to sing popular songs, they especially liked “Roll Out the Barrel.” Pat sang in the choir in high school and loved it. She was part of the larger choir and also in a smaller triple trio. The triple trio would sing for ladies’ luncheons and other events in the community. Pat had a fine singing voice and enjoyed singing all her life. After high school Pat went on to attend Pacific Lutheran University for one year. She loved PLU and enjoyed singing in the choir there. During the summer between her senior year of high school and her freshmen year of college she started dating Harley Drollinger, a neighbor from Five Mile. Pat fondly recalled the first time she saw Harley. He was astride a motorcycle, wearing his air force uniform, and surrounded by the neighborhood kids. He made quite an impression on Pat, and when he asked her out later, she gladly said yes! They especially enjoyed driving to Priest Lake for a day of picnics and fishing during their courtship. They married the following summer after Pat finished her freshmen year at PLU.

Once married, they moved to Prosser, WA where Harley had a job working for his family’s company, Valley Ready Mix, in Sunnyside. Harley built their first home there. While they were there, they volunteered as youth leaders for Luther League at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Grandview, WA. They took the kids camping and on other adventures and opened up their home (and swimming pool) to them. Both their daughter Wilmalee and son Bruce were born during their time in Prosser.

In 1961 they moved to Richland, WA to help start another Ready-Mix plant. While in Richland, daughter Ruth was born. After a year in Richland Harley and Pat felt called to the ministry and left for Dubuque, IA where Harley attended Wartburg Lutheran Seminary. They stayed in Iowa for three happy years.

In 1965 the family moved to Potlatch, ID where Harley had been called to pastor Grace Lutheran Church. They spent nine years in Potlatch, pastoring the church, building a house, lifting the church and adding a much-needed basement, and starting and briefly running the Town and Country General Store. Pat was a good pastor’s wife; making sure Harely made his house calls and wrote his sermons on time. She was very conscientious and wanted to serve their congregation to the best of her ability. She and Harley were much loved by Grace Lutheran Church and when they left everyone was sad to see them go. They finally settled (and stayed!) in Yakima, WA where they started a home rental business, built two more houses, and stayed busy serving in many ways at their church, First Presbyterian Church (now Grace of Christ). They helped cook weekly Wednesday dinners, Pat played the piano for the Golden Circle senior Sunday school class they attended, and they volunteered in the preschool room with childcare for the moms attending MOPS. Pat also played the piano when Harley would preach at local nursing homes or the Union Gospel Mission. They faithfully supported many ministries including Wycliffe Bible Translators and their missionaries and Compassion Internation. Pat was also an active member of her local PEO chapter. The deepest desire of Pats heart was to love and serve her savior, and she did so with vigor and enthusiasm.

Pat was very proud of her Norwegian heritage and she and Harely were members of the Sons of Norway organization in Yakima. She and Harley traveled to Norway in their retirement and were able to meet some of her relatives there. They also visited the stave church that her ancestors attended. Pat and Harley loved to travel and besides Norway, they went to Australia and New Zealand, on a cruise to Alaska, and to Hawaii, as well as plenty of traveling in the lower 48 states. Pat and her sister Wanda also went on a cruise to Turkey and Greece.

Pat loved to cook and play hostess and a person always knew they would eat well on a visit to her home. She hosted exchange student friends of grandson Nate and they became like family. She hosted large family gatherings, church groups, and visiting missionaries. Pat loved to serve Jesus by serving others. She often ended to letters to grandchildren with the acronym JOY (Jesus Others You).

If there was one thing Pat would want people to know about her, it was how much she loved Jesus and more importantly, how much Jesus loved them. She would want each person reading this to know: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Pat is preceded in death by her Husband Harley, grandson Noble Stoneman, siblings William Bleasner, Wilma Bleasner, and Jim Bleasner.

Pat is survived by sister Wanda Amsbury, daughter Wilmalee (Francis) Larson, son Bruce (Diane) Drollinger, daughter Ruth Stoneman, eight grandchildren, and a bunch of great grandchildren.