Patricia Carol (Mann) Cottle, 88, returned home to the loving embrace of her Father-in-Heaven on January 7, 2021. She was born in Provo, Utah on Christmas day 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, to William Lloyd Mann and Lucille Mae Snow. At a time of hardship, Patricia was indeed a precious gift from the Snow-Mann union to the world. With this auspicious start, an admirable and meaningful life seemed destined to follow—and it did!
In 1936, she moved with her parents and two older brothers, Bill, and Rod, to Temple City, California. They were joined a short time later by her grandfather Will Mann, the mechanic who helped John Froelich invent the first gasoline traction engine in 1892. As a teenager during the 1940s, Patricia became a model in Pasadena, participated in fashion and beauty shows, and played in community theatre productions. After graduation from Woodrow Wilson Junior High School and 3 ½ years at Pasadena City College, she studied at Brigham Young University, an experience that she described as a “choice time in my life.” She had a date “almost every night” her first year there, studied hard, and earned good grades. In 1954, Patricia graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Secretarial Science--the first person on either side of her family to get a college degree. She looked back on this accomplishment with humility and thankfulness for the hard sacrifices her parents made so that she could achieve this goal.
After college, the adventurous graduate seized opportunities to explore the country and gain work experience. Patricia first worked as a secretary for a vice-president of the Los Angeles Soap Company. Restless in this position, she applied to be a stewardess at American Airlines. American wisely hired her on the spot and sent her to Chicago for six weeks of training. During this glamorous era of aviation, she flew out of Washington, D.C. all along the east coast. It was an exciting time for her as a young woman in the 1950s, she reminisced recently. She relished her time “as a stewardess,” she emphasized with a wry grin, “not a flight attendant.” As the only stewardess aboard a forty-seat two prop plane, she enjoyed meeting politicians, such as John and Jackie Kennedy, and movie stars and entertainers, such as Hugh Marlow and Bob Hope. She remembered her frustration with Mr. Hope on one flight when he refused her repeated instructions to buckle his seatbelt for the landing. Not to be intimidated, she persisted and Mr. Hope grudgingly relented! Her job at American provided numerous opportunities to explore the East Coast. One night, at the Shoreham Hotel Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan, she turned to say something to her date and nearly bumped into Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife Pat.
Eventually, Patricia transferred to Dallas/Fort Worth airport in Texas. On one flight from this location, she met Dr. Kenneth D. Wells, the founder of the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, a non-profit and non-partisan organization that promotes responsible citizenship, character, and freedom. Dr. Wells convinced her to quit the glamorous life of a young and attractive stewardess to come work for him at his foundation. Ready for a new experience, she accepted the job and moved to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where she met prominent Americans who contributed to this organization. A lifelong Perry Mason fan, Patricia especially recalled her excitement when she met Raymond Burr at the foundation! While maybe not quite as exciting as meeting Perry Mason--but nevertheless momentous--she also met her first husband, J. Harold (Hal) Heaton from Logan, Utah, who served near Valley Forge as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patricia eventually resigned her job with Dr. Wells, moved to Hawaii for a few months, and then returned to Arcadia, California briefly. There she worked at the Santa Anita Racetrack before taking a job as secretary to Adam Bennion, an LDS Church General Authority, in Salt Lake City, Utah. While working for Brother Bennion, she visited Hal in Logan on weekends.
They fell in love and married on August 30, 1957 in the LDS Los Angeles Temple. While Hal completed a business degree at Utah State University, Patricia worked as a secretary on campus. After he graduated, they both worked for Dr. Wells at Valley Forge. In 1961, pregnant with her first child, the couple moved to Salt Lake City, where Dawn was born. Soon after, they moved to California, where Hal took a job in the aerospace industry and they had a son, John in 1964, a son Michael in 1966, and a daughter, Michele in 1967. It was then that Patricia entered the busy season of her life! After a few more moves, Patricia’s family ended up in Portland, Oregon for the next few decades where Patricia raised four children; served as an LDS Relief Society president, bishop’s wife, and later, stake president’s wife. Patricia balanced these challenges and responsibilities with grace, fulfilled all her callings faithfully, and never shirked them. She put her shoulder to the wheel and labored with a heart full of song. She loved to laugh and tried to live on the sunny side of life. A patient and loving mother and wife, Patricia worked hard to instill in her children the bedrock values of the church, a solid work-ethic, and patriotism. She cried the night Gerald Ford conceded the election to Jimmy Carter in 1976, and celebrated Ronald Reagan’s inauguration in 1981. Her strong faith and traditional values could occasionally embarrass one son, such as the time in 1978 when he convinced her to take him to see the movie Grease. Although she preferred Hollywood classics like Singin’ in the Rain and The Day the Earth Stood Still, she took him to the show. During the movie, to his mortification, Patricia blurted out loudly, “oh gross,” when two of the characters French-kissed! After the movie, she lectured him about the flawed moral of the story; that Sandy, the “square” cheapened her character with nasty behavior to win the affections of Danny Zuko. Patricia remained steadfast in her convictions and values throughout her life. She was also gentle and kind. She always saw the best in people. A woman of class, substance, and quiet dignity and strength, Patricia followed the dictates of the Spirit and her conscience rather than the latest social trends.
When her marriage to Hal ended in 1985, she moved to Utah to rebuild her life. She worked a variety of jobs, including the LDS Church Family History Department and Associated Food Stores. In 1994, she became acquainted with Dr. Thomas “Tom” Cottle, a dentist from Portland who had recently lost his wife of more than four decades. Within months, the two fell in love, married, and took off on many adventures that included church missions to Missouri, Africa, Russia, and the Ukraine. During these years, Patricia’s four children gave her seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren (an eleventh and twelfth are due in just a few weeks). Tom’s eight children produced a sizeable progeny as well. Together, Patricia and Tom had 52 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. They enjoyed a wonderful “Act 2” life together in which they made family and the LDS church the center of their beautiful world. Patricia and Tom lovingly cared for each other as they grew frail in the last few years. They lamented the effect that the COVID-19 pandemic had on their ability to receive visits from family. Just over four weeks ago, Tom succumbed at the age of 91 to cancer. Our dear Mother had become fragile. She missed Tom’s love and the tender care that he had given her. As Patricia was helped into bed after dinner this past Thursday evening, she laid down, gently put her head back and said, “oh Tom,” as she peacefully slipped from the bonds of mortality. She is survived by her four children and their spouses: Dawn Marie Pelham (Wendall), John William Heaton (Rebecca), Michael Snow Heaton (Mindy), Michele Heaton Godbout (Alain), Tom’s eight children and spouses, fifty-two grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Preceding Patricia in death are her grandson, Army Spc. John Alexander Pelham, a veteran of the Afghanistan War, Tom’s granddaughter Brittany Potter, and great-granddaughter Holland Cottle. While she lived a life of serious purpose, Patricia never took herself too seriously and was quick with a sweet smile and a giggle, especially at her own expense (usually as she fumbled with a name or words). Our grief at her passing is profound, yet we take solace in her reunion with departed loved ones. We will greatly miss her and the beautiful twinkle of her blue eyes when she smiled. We love you Mom.
A private Graveside Service will be held on January 14, 2021 at 11:00 am at River View Cemetery.
To view the Graveside Service live please visit www.facebook.com/YoungsFuneral
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