Patricia Vernon

Patricia Ann Anderson was born November 17, 1932, and it was apparent to her parents and others that she was very special child. Growing up on a large rice farm in the vicinty of DeWitt, Arkansas, she was privileged to be raised in a loving Christian home, and Gus and Beulah Anderson took their delight in Patricia who always manifested a meek and quiet spirit. But she always exhibited a joyful and optimistic outlook on life, which served her well in the challenges she faced later on.
A popular and beautiful brunette with looks often compared to that of the actress, Hedy Lamar, Patricia excelled in school, and was very dedicated in her faith and active in her church, the First Christian Church of DeWitt. At an early age, she confessed Jesus as her Lord and Savior and was baptized into Christ. In the summers, loved attending christian service camp, and had planned on enrolling in Atlantic Christian College after High School until she caught the eye of Bob Vernon when in a college quartet from Ozark Christian College, he was singing at her church. It was love at first sight, and eight months later, they were married.
Patricia was talented in so many ways. From the two years of Home Economics in high school, she learned the art of decorating as well as becoming gifted in crafts, cooking, sewing, and homemaking. She was in the high school band, played the piano, sang with her crystal-clear soprano voice in the choir, and was a chalk artist, which she later taught at Ozark Christian College in Joplin, Missouri.
Pat sang second soprano in the Vernon wives quartet, as well as in the joint Vernon Octet, where her husband Bob sang second tenor. The amazing circumstance is that the voices of all four of the wives corresponded with that of their husband's. Joy sang 1st soprano, Her husband, 1st Tenor; Pat, 2nd Soprano, her husband Bob, 2nd tenor; Carol, 1st Alto, her husband Don, baritone; Lodi, low contralto, and husband B.J., Bass. Pat, along with the others, traveled widely in this country and aboard, singing and proclaiming the gospel.
Patricia, as well as the other girls, was an esteemed and natural; actress in the "homestead U.S.A." television series, starring the whole family. They pioneered in the first real family "reality" show on TV, filmed at the famed Universal International Studios, syndicated to more than 150 stations.
Married to Bob Vernon in 1949, Pat and her devoted husband celebrated their 66th wedding anniversary in the nursing home where she had been in treatment for a stroke suffered in 2009. To their union were born four children: Rebecca, a gifted singer, painist, and worship leader, married to stephen Walker; Gregory, a dedicated minister, song writer, and band leader at the Refuge; Deborah, a talented key-boardist, song writer, and worship leader, married to Randy Ballas; and Karen, who died of a rare, incurable disease when just a baby.
Pat was a loving and devoted wife and mother, and a proud "Grandy" to Jeremy, Jessica, Emma, Colton, Beau, and Baxter Drake. We, along with an innumerable host of relatives and friends, proudly celebrate her many accomplishments and the victorious life she lived.
Her parents and her three brothers, Jim Jake, and Ronnie have all preceded her in that journey to "The Great Beyond."
Though we mourn her passing and she will be sorely missed, we look forward to that happy and eternal reunion when the last trumpet shall sound and "we shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord..." and those that have gone on before!