Judy Patterson was always on the go. Whether it was volunteering with the Cooper Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association or participating in outdoor sports, friends and family say Patterson loved living life.
Patterson had been involved in the Cooper Elementary PTA since her children, who will start ninth and fifth grades this fall, were in kindergarten. “She was so devoted to that school,” said her husband Stacy Patterson. “They dedicated the yearbook to her this year.”
Patterson wanted to make sure not only that her children received a good education, but that all the children at Cooper received a good education. She was so devoted, her husband said, that she would even go to PTA meetings after her chemotherapy treatments.
“Even when she was in a wheelchair and could barely walk, she thought it was her purpose to be an active part of her kids’ school,” said Patterson’s best friend and cousin, Kristy Hilburn.
Judy Patterson, of Lawrenceville, died June 22 after a long battle with cancer. She was 50. A funeral is scheduled for 2 p.m., Thursday June 26 at Grayson United Methodist Church. Interment at Arlington Memorial Park will follow the service. Wages & Sons Funeral Homes & Crematories is in charge of arrangements. Those interested may make donations in Patterson’s memory to Gwinnett County Public Schools’ Foundation, Archer Academic Foundation and the Gwinnett Medical Center Foundation.
Three of Patterson’s biggest contributions to Cooper Elementary, said her husband, were raising money for new playground equipment, tablets for use in the school library and shade trees for the playground.
“She was a stay-at-home mom, but she was not one to stay at home,” said Stacy Patterson. “She wanted to do the PTA, she wanted to go out with friends, she wanted to go on trips.” Patterson planned snowboarding trips, skiing trips and trips to Lake Burton, where her family has a cabin. She loved being active and being outdoors.
Patterson also loved caring for her friends.
Whenever Hilburn had a bad day, Patterson would tell the same joke: “What did the pig say when he fell on his side? He said, ‘Oh, my achin’ bacon.’ ”
Even while Patterson was sick, “She always found a way to make me laugh,” said Hilburn, who Patterson had called her “cousin-best friend.”
In addition to her husband, of Lawrenceville, Patterson is survived by her two children, Drew and Kathleen, of Lawrenceville; mother Elaine Barrow, of Marietta; brother Bob Barrow, of Jerusalem; and sisters Diane Reese and Lynn Barrow, of Phoenix, Ariz.
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