Harold Patterson was a soldier.
Harold Warren Patterson, age 80 years, of Vienna, was discharged from his earthly assignment on Sunday, June 25, 2023, peacefully at home surrounded by his family.
He enlisted in the army of humanity on Nov. 14, 1942, in Topeka, Kan., the son of Warren (Jack) and Martha (Wennerstein) Cox. Harold was transferred a few times, first from his parents to an orphanage and foster parents in Topeka, Kan.; then in July 1948 to his permanent unit of John and Leona Patterson. In 1952, when he was 10 years old, they moved to rural Meta. Sept. 10, 1961, he joined his current home base when he married Katherine Alene Hollis, and to this union, three children were born.
Mr. Patterson participated in several tours of duty, some more challenging than others. His first mission was living in an orphanage and in foster homes. While in one of the foster homes, Harold was locked in a closet by his foster father because he had not completed his chores on time. He managed to get out of the closet and find the only two toys he was allowed to keep in the orphanage and in the foster system — a stuffed dog and a stuffed bear. Having collected his toys, Harold proceeded to run away and sit on the curb a few blocks away until his social worker happened to drive by and pick him up.
Another of his earliest duties as a child was his feeling the need to protect his sister Odette while they were in the orphanages and after they were adopted by the Pattersons and Odette’s family. Often after he and Odette were adopted, their families got together to allow the kids to play, but Harold was told to keep it secret that they were brother and sister. After he graduated from high school, it was important to him for him to connect with Odette and for her to know that they were siblings.
Harold’s military career began in the Missouri Army National Guard in 1960 in the Military Police unit in Kansas City. Through the 37 years in the National Guard, he attained the rank of First Sergeant, and retired as a Master Sergeant. During his time in the guard, he earned the Army Commendation Medal, the army Achievement Medal, and for his service during the flood of 1993, the Humanitarian Service Medal. During his Military career, Harold saw duty in Germany, Panama, and Honduras. Master Sergeant Patterson was honorably discharged from the Missouri National Guard on Feb. 6, 1998. In addition, as a member of the Missouri National Guard, Harold had the privilege of being part of the security detail for at least three Missouri Governor inaugurations, and on at least one instance was the driver for the Governor to each location on inauguration day.
Most of his working life, Harold was a mechanic for the Army National Guard in Jefferson City, until his retirement in 1998. He then worked as a handy man for the Vienna Homes senior citizen retirement unit where he learned to re-key the locks for the apartments, and a skill he valued by tinkering with the keys in the basement of his house until his final illness left him unable to do so. He was also a bank courier for 20 years for the Maries County Bank based in Vienna.
Harold was an active member of the Mason Ridge Community Church near Meta, where he volunteered in several capacities. His Christian beliefs influenced his actions with all he met inside and outside of the church. He believed that helping others was one of the ways to demonstrate his Christ-like faith. One memory of the family was late one night when his children were younger, a gentleman stopped by the house while it was raining to tell dad he was walking through the area and asked if he could sleep under Dad’s truck to protect him from the rain. At the time, the truck had a camper on it, and Dad being mindful of safety concerns told him he should sleep in the camper of the truck instead of under it and then took him a pillow, blankets, and quilts to try to help him be more comfortable. Another demonstration of his Christian compassion was his volunteer efforts while working in the National Guard to drive an 18-wheeler full of food to Camp Wonderland, a camp sponsored by the National Guard for kids with disabilities to experience a summer camp at Lake of Ozarks. He also included his kids in this effort by inviting them to ride along with him as he drove and unloaded the food at the camp.
Harold was very kind-hearted. One memory that Cailey has was after her mom died and Kevin was traveling out of state, Harold and Katherine came and stayed with the kids. As Cailey was sad that Kevin was traveling, Harold told her that she could be sad, but when she was, come find him and she could snuggle up with him and they would be sad together.
He was also a collector, probably due to only having two toys he could keep in the orphanage during the early years of his life. Since 1949, when a neighbor gave him a ceramic dog, he accumulated collectible dogs. He has a collection of dalmatians ornaments which came from McDonald’s Happy Meals. When the set came out, Lindell, Beverly and Kevin decided to get him the dogs as a Christmas present. The whole family got involved in collecting the dalmatians. His kids, Cody and even Harold and Katherine all went through McDonald’s numerous times to collect all 101 of the dalmatians. Since one couldn’t predict which dog one would get, can you guess how many happy meals the kids had to buy to get the 101 dalmatians? Let’s just say ALOT. On a side note, as the kids neared completion of the set of 101 dalmatians, the entire set came available for sale at one time without getting the Happy Meals.
Harold loved dessert. When having a meal, he often began by eating dessert first, that way he was sure to have room for it. On one occasion, as Katherine was baking cookies, Harold encouraged the kids to line up the cookies like players on a football team and then they proceeded to eat all of the cookies to make room for the next batch of cookies coming out of the oven. On one of Harold’s bank runs, he took the grandkids with him. They were finishing up just before mealtime, and Harold decided to get the grandkids milk shakes but only if they promised not to tell Grandma and their dad that he had gotten ice cream for them. Ice Cream was his favorite. About a year ago, the family took a trip to Jefferson City and Harold wanted to stop by Central Dairy for ice cream… in a cone. Because of the Parkinson’s, his motor skills had slowed enough that he wasn’t able to get his ice cream eaten before it melted, instead, his cone was dripping chocolate ice cream out the bottom and somehow he had ice cream from his forehead to his knees, and as Kevin was trying to clean up the ice cream, Harold kept eating because he wanted to finish as much as he could before it completely melted with no time to stop and clean up.
Harold is well remembered for his playful, even ornery side. One of his favorite things to do was wiggle his ears. When asked how he did that, he answered, “Eat lots of carrots and think like a rabbit.” During the last weeks of his life as the nurses were trying to get him to respond, one thing that often got a response was them asking him to wiggle his ears. This could also be seen in what he allowed his grandkids to get away with. Apparently the first time Grandpa babysat Cody, they went to Grandma and Grandpa Hollis’ house to help pour a cement ramp for their house. While the men were building the ramp, Cody was using a bucket of water and dirt to make mud pies. Needless to say, Cody was covered in mud from head to toe and had to sit on old farm feed sacks on the way home. When Harold was asked by Beverly why he let him play in the mud, his reply was that Cody was quiet and out of the way, so he let him.
His playful side was often apparent in the family vacations the Pattersons took… All five of them… in one car… driving across country for two weeks at a time. One story that has been repeated many times is that on a trip to the Grand Canyon, apparently the kids were fighting or arguing over a little plastic green ball that they had with them. Harold told the kids if they didn’t stop, he would throw the ball away. The story goes that he threw it into the Grand Canyon — though the story may have been made up. In any case, if you ever travel to the Grand Canyon, and you find a 40–50-year-old green plastic ball, Lindell and Kevin ask that you bring it back to them.
Harold’s children and grandchildren have countless stories of his great sense of humor and ornery streak and often carry on this tradition in their own interactions with loved ones.
He was preceded in death by father, John, Dec. 18, 1996; mother, Leona, April 19, 2001; daughter, Beverly Louise (Patterson) Honse, June 7, 2020; daughter-in-law, Lisa Dianne Patterson, June 6, 2012, grandson-in-law, Ben Loftin, Aug. 23, 2020; sisters, Patricia Thomas, March 21, 2013, Mary Doty, Dec. 25, 2016, Jeanne Armstrong, Oct. 14, 2007, and Roxy Thomas, Feb. 13, 2017.
Those remaining in Mr. Patterson’s home base include: loving wife of over 61 years, Katherine Patterson, of the home near Vienna; sons, Lindell Patterson of Meta, and Kevin Patterson, Ankeny, Iowa; grandchildren, Cody Honse (Sarah), Justin Noblett (MaShayla), Jessica Woody (Ben), Katie Deere (Jon), William Patterson, Josh Patterson, and Cailey Patterson; great-grandchildren, Jameson Loftin, Audrey Loftin, Jennings Woody, Stevi Noblett and Jaxson Woody; sisters, Odette Hugues of Ft. Worth, Texas, and Nancy Higgins, Kansas City; brother, Gene Proctor of Branson; and other family and friends.
Harold’s final mission was his years’ long battle with Parkinson’s Disease. During this battle he never complained about the pain or the weakness that accompanied the disease, but instead was often known to wiggle his ears at the health care providers and to ask Katherine where they were going for a car ride each evening, sometimes leaving late in the evening. At the conclusion of this battle, he left his earthly ribbons on his uniform in exchange for a new ribbon from his Commander-in-Chief that reads “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
Funeral services were held Wednesday, June 28, in the Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home Chapel, Vienna, with Rev. Duncan Skiles, Bro. Larry Neal, and Bro. Freddie Earp officiating. Interment for Mr. Patterson followed at the Vienna Public Cemetery, under the direction of Birmingham-Martin Funeral Home, Vienna.
Memorial contributions in memory of Mr. Harold W. Patterson are suggested by his family to the Vienna Public Cemetery Perpetual Care Fund.
