CELEBRATION OF LIFE TO BE SUNDAY APRIL 24TH, 2022 at 1pm held at 610 NE 36th St. Ankeny IA 50021.
Patricia passed in the loving arms of her son, listening to her favorite songs, which included Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Unchained Melody, Ave Maria and Hallelujah.
Patty has 2 surviving sons, John Alexander Meeker, 44, and Ryan Patrick Meeker, 41. Patty was preceded in death by her sisters, Sally (Bunten) McNulty, her junior, and Nancy (Bunten) McNulty her senior, and still has one older sister living in TX, Judy (Bunten) Dean. Patty had 7 nieces and nephews that she adored, several cousins, countless relatives and many dear friends, ALL who she kept in close contact with over the years.
Patty graduated from Ottumwa High School in 1966, and loved all of her classmates like family. She kept in touch with all of them over the years, and even attended most all of, if not every class reunion they have had. She was so happy and proud to attend her 50th Class Reunion a handful of years back, and was so disappointed that they couldn’t have one last year for the 55th, due to the pandemic. She was waiting for number 60! The outpour of prayers from her graduating class has been tremendous.
Patty was an independent woman. She hated that toward the end, she wasn’t able to do the things she has done for years as an independent woman. Patty did everything on her own. Her son had to sell her car recently so that she wouldn’t fall on an icing parking lot and hurt herself. Patty did not like that one bit. If her son didn’t sell her car, she would fall on the concrete. And she literally would have crawled to it if she had to. She was as ornery and stubborn as they come! This was what made her so special. No one told Patty what to do, she was a free spirit, a free thinker, and did not conform! Rather she was a shooting star that challenged authority, liked to cut loose, live on the edge, and be her own person. She didn’t rely on anyone in life, but herself. She was as tough as they come, but had as big of a heart as they come as well. She was one of the most forgiving, most upbeat, most “today is a new day” type of person the world has ever seen. Patty faced a lot of adversity in her life, which was not an easy one. She always managed to rise up to the occasion. And she never once complained. She was more worried about everyone else, her family. She lived her life as such, if she were to complain, who would listen? And in this case, she didn’t complain one time this last year, last month in particular that she was sick. She kept insisting she was fine. She sat in the ER that first night, more worried about her sister being in the hospital than she being in one. Being home, independent, in her own home, was so important to her. That kept her spirit’s alive many more years. She was a fighter by nature, never giving in. She was as independent of a woman as you’ll ever know. She took no crap, she feared absolutely nothing. She was my hero...
As a single mom she held a 30 year career with John Deere, and retired 12 years ago, with full benefits. Nothing made her son more proud. She got to enjoy that retirement for 12 years. She bought a condo, on her own in Ankeny 16 years ago, and she’s absolutely loved it ever since. That made her so happy to own her own home. She worked very hard for that and everything else she did in life. She had her son renovate her home in 2010, where she made it her dream home. She also got to enjoy that for 12 years. Most important, she had so many wonderful friends that she was close to from John Deere, and those girls in that retiring class all still get together once a month for lunch. Patty absolutely loved those luncheons, and tried to attend as many as she possibly could. She’d talk about how much fun it was for days after attending one of those. She loved to eat, laugh and be merry! She never took anything too serious. Her philosophy in life was that it was too short to get too worked up about anything.
Patricia loved music and movies, and she was a real enthusiast on both. She was proud of her collection of movies. She could listen to her favorite songs for days. She was not a judgmental person, she was the easiest person to be around, and always rooted for the underdog in life. As for music, she was a Beatles generation girl, and had music in her soul early on. Mostly she could be defined as a woman who loved her 2 sons, sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, aunt, uncles and her parents, more than anything in the world.
Patty had strong family values, and grew up with 4 sisters in a working class family. Her father, Robert Bunten, was a rail-road worker, and her Mother, Cuba Pearl Hasting, stayed home and raised the 4 sisters. Patty was the 3rd oldest, and definitely had that “middle child syndrome,” as she was as rebellious and full of fun, as anyone you’ll ever meet! Her and her sisters were raised in a household where performing and music was a big part of life, so Patty took that with her throughout life. She loved to tell a funny story, work a crowd, she loved to do impressions, just loved to do anything to make you laugh. Patty was someone who you also liked to make laugh because she had this loud belly laugh that was contagious. When the 4 sisters got together, it was quite an entertaining site.
Patty’s struggles the last handful of years was that she couldn’t walk or get around. She would have most likely been heartbroken if they had that 55th Class Reunion, and she didn’t get to go. But that probably wouldn’t have happened, she would have crawled to that thing if she had to!
Not one thing took Patty from us, but a combination of several things. She fought and fought, but was to a point to where she wasn’t getting much satisfaction out of life, because she couldn’t do anything, which led to her being housebound, which isn’t good for anybody. She needed new knees, but didn’t have to health to allow the surgery. In the end it was that she was riddled with problems… She was literally getting punched from every direction. But she was punching back. She was already starting to showcase a little dementia, but after a few recent falls where she hit her head, she had brain bleeding. Then once in the hospital she choked, lost conscious for 15 minutes, and had several heart attacks over the next few days. She had an infection that took over her whole body, originating from bed sores, and open wounds that wouldn’t stop bleeding. She had fluid around her collapsed lungs, so the hospital had to try and keep one of those lungs inflated so that she could get oxygen. She then got pneumonia. And if you’ve ever been around Patty, she had the worst case of COPD. With all this and her being on life support, she still made it 6 days! Talk about being a fighter. She went through hell those days on life support. In the end, her passing on to Heaven was a blessing, as she is no longer in the pain and agony she has been in the last few years. Her spirit and memories will live on. I love you to the moon and back Mom.