Cleo Williams Patterson

Cleo Louise was born December 4, 1931, in Bosque, Texas

Her parents were:

Father - William Taft Williams - “Daddy Bill” - born July 10, 1906, in Texas

Mother - Mary Alice Oswell - “Mama Alice” - born January 28, 1907, in Texas

They were married May 23, 1925, in Texas

First child - Mary Joyce born March 23, 1926 (died September 19, 2007)

Cleo Louise Williams lived with her parents and sister Joyce in Walnut Springs, TX

Daddy Bill, Mama Alice, Joyce, and Cleo moved to California, Los Angeles area near Highland Park, in October 1936. They live with Mama Alice’s father, Walter Oswell, and her stepmother. Mama Alice’s mother died when she was 13 from Tetanus. She got this from a splinter from their wooden floor. Daddy Bill started working with the Southern Pacific Railroad as a Pipefitter and worked up to being an Engineer.

After a few years, they got a house in Eagle Rock.

Cleo and Joyce went to school in Eagle Rock

Cleo graduated from Eagle Rock High School.

She worked afterwards as a secretary.

One of her friends, Joan Kelly met Cecil Gist, Grandpa Dick’s first cousin and they married.

Cecil lived in Tulare and was a farmer like his dad. Cecil and Joan had a St Patrick’s Day party and invited mom and Dad to meet each other. My mother told her mother after she came home from the party that she had met the man she was going to marry.

Cleo started attending the Glendale Christadelphian Ecclesia held at the Eagle Rock Women’s Club. She was baptized into the saving name of Christ before they married, Feb 10, 1951.

Cleo and Dick Patterson were married May 26, 1951. Dad was working for the DWP - Department of Water & Power for Los Angeles, at this time, and was working at their Independence, CA office. Mom & Dad lived in Independence the first year of their marriage. I was conceived towards the end of their first year there, and they moved back to Southern CA, buying a house in Rosemead, CA, on Wells St.

Lyn Denise was born on 10-25-1952, Mark Richard was born on 8-25-1954, and Gary Mitchell was born on 9-21-1955.  Grandchildren - Sarah Smenyak, Evan MacDougall, Matthew Patterson, David Patterson, Kristen Contreras, Nicole Patterson, Nolan Patterson, Jared Patterson - Great-grandchildren -  Cassidy, Andrew, Conner, Brianna, Camden, Owen, Lucy, KK, Harley-Rose, Julia, Ian, Isaac, Joshua, Kendra, and Tristen.

Cleo met Mary Ellen Treffry by chance at a store after Gary was born. Mom and Mary Ellen started meeting together monthly, along with another high school friend, Mary Roof. They also would go shopping together, have lunch, and share many laughs. So, their husbands joined in the fun, and the families met together. All the men had musical backgrounds, and Mary’s husband was also an engineer. Mary Ellen remembers mom as a fantastic cook and seamstress. She also says she will treasure their memories forever!

Friends of Dick & Cleo, Fred & Virginia Buckler, who lived close in El Monte, decided to buy land and build a house in Hacienda Heights. Dad surveyed the lot for them and found a nice big house down the road on Las Tunas Drive. Mom & Dad decided to buy the house, and they moved there in August 1960.

They lived in this house, my dad not returning, after he had his stroke in February of 2016. They sold the house, and Mom moved into the Palms Senior Apartments with Dad in 2017.

Mom was involved with many people and organizations. She always liked to help people.

She was very involved for many years with “Hope House,” which was a home for multihandicapped children. She started to help them after Dorothy & Bill Collister’s oldest son, Richard, was placed there because of his disabilities. She spent many days and hours volunteering at their thrift shop, along with Betty Malone. For years, Mom would order, bag, and then sell nuts. We kids spent hours bagging these nuts, and they were all over the house.

She worked in the snack shack for Little League, helped in the PTA, taught Sunday School, and taught children’s classes at Bible School.

She helped Dad in all his activities, also. She always had jobs at the Idyllwild Bible School. She and Dad did registration and cabins for many years. She helped Dad on Bible Mission as the secretary and took and sent out the meeting minutes. She went with Dad on Truth Corps as a team leader for many years.

Mom had a group of lady friends from church called “The Sewing Circle”. They would meet once a month and do needlework. They ended up making a joint quilt for each one of their daughters who married. The ladies I remember were: Marilyn Paggi, Joanne Gould, Peggy Lloyd, Dorothy Collister, and Leta Tate. This group, along with their spouses, would get together for monthly dinners rotating between their homes. Also, the families of each would go camping together on almost every holiday weekend: Kern Rover, President’s Birthdays, Easter, George’s Place in Baja CA, Colorado River, Memorial Day, etc. We did this for years, and it was a lot of fun. Other families would come along too.

Mom liked to cook and we had many extended family dinners over the years. She made yummy southern turkey, stuffing, and gravy. She also loved to make pies - especially southern pecan!

We had a large area of blackberry vines behind the house, and she would make blackberry jam. We also had a pomegranate tree. She would get Dad to pick them and help her juice them to make delicious pomegranate jelly. She would give away her homemade jam and jelly every year as gifts.

Mom was also a very good alto singer, and she loved to sing. She would come into our rooms and sing in the mornings to wake us up. She started singing in a group called “The Mothersingers”. This group was sponsored by the PTA, and she started singing when we still lived on Wells St, at Wells Elementary School.

After we moved, she found another group close to where we lived. Mother’s singers left the PTA and incorporated as “The California Woman’s Chorus”. It is composed of individual groups all over California. They meet once a year for a convention and sing all together. Mom’s last group was called “The Coral Belles”. Her group folded during the pandemic as they were all pretty old.

She loved singing with the group as they performed, dressed up in costumes, and did choreography. Over the years, we have gone to various performances to watch her. The Coral Belles sang at the Palms and also for 12Oaks, where Edith MacDougall stayed towards the end of her life.

After we were married, she would call and sing “Happy Birthday” to us every year. As she got dementia and it progressed, she wouldn’t remember to call us and sing. Sarah was very special this last year, as she was the only one that Mom called on their birthday! I called mom on my birthday and reminded her, and we sang together!.

Mom ended up having friends all over the world due to Dad’s travels and speaking for the Christadelphians around the world. She liked to keep in touch and remember people. She sent out lots and lots of cards and notes

Mom contracted a UTI infection that could not be cured and peacefully fell asleep at Rose Hospice House on July 27, 2025. She now awaits the resurrection with Dad, when they will be resurrected together!