Obituary for Sara L. Patton
Sara L. (Reifsnyder) Patton, 84, passed away at Berks Heim on Friday, April 15, 2022, after a long and courageous battle with Parkinson’s Disease. Previously residing in Shillington and then Cumru Township, she was the youngest of nine children born to the late Clayton and Eva (Weidner) Reifsnyder.
She is survived by her husband, Gale R. Patton, a resident at Country Meadows, Wyomissing. They would have been married 62 years next month. She was an amazing Mom to Sharon Patton (companion Jeff Leisey), Brian Patton, and Jane (Patton) Schmidt (husband Carlton). “Nanny” was treasured and adored by her sixteen grandchildren: Derek, Abby, Boston, Dylan, Aubrey, Gracie, Kelsey, Tanner (wife Samantha), Jacqueline, Karly, Lucas, Myah, Cooper, Emma, Josiah, and Carter, as well as her seven great-grandchildren: Isaac, Viviana, Lydia, Kennedy, Nolan, Peyton, and Ashten. She counted each one as a blessing. Also surviving are two sisters, Dorothy Huber, Shillington, and Ruth Rack, Tucson, Arizona – and a host of nieces and nephews who loved their Aunt Sara! She was pre-deceased by siblings Clayton, Caroline, Eva, Arlene, Raymond, and Floyd.
Graduating from Reading High in 1955, she then focused on marriage and raising a family. Only when her kids were older did she pursue her dream. She graduated from RACC’s nursing program and was an RN at Reading Hospital for many years, also working part-time at Berks Heim. Her patients ranged the lifespan, from premature infants, to holding the hands of the elderly as they ended their life journey. She prayed for them all. A member of Grace Church, Shillington, and the former St. Luke’s E.C. Church, Shillington, Sara knew her bible well, taught Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and was the mom who drove the neighborhood on Sunday mornings in the 1970s, piling ten kids into her station wagon for church.
She was the most nurturing, loving, giving and self-sacrificing person known to her family and friends, and spent her entire life caring for other people, placing herself last. Her soul was a candle in the window, a beacon of light and hope - for others going through darkness, whether she knew them or not. Her faith was the very essence of her being, and everyone she spoke with knew that she loved and worshipped her Lord. She then suffered bravely and silently, in the grasp of a cruel disease. Those chains are now gone; she’s been set free! When she skipped through Heaven’s gates on Good Friday, we know she heard the words she strived for: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord!" (Matthew 25:21)” We rejoice in knowing that, without a doubt, she turned and waved goodbye to that wheelchair, with a smirk on her face, and is now running barefoot, singing, and dancing with the Angels! A very special, eternal thanks go out to the A-3 staff at Berks Heim, who compassionately cared for Sara over the last 5½ years.
Honoring her wishes that ‘no fuss be made,’ there will be no services and burial will be private.
The Kuhn Funeral Home, West Reading, is graciously assisting with final arrangements.
How can you honor Sara? The request is a simple one. Take your own candle, the one shining brightly in your own soul, and go light the world!
She is survived by her husband, Gale R. Patton, a resident at Country Meadows, Wyomissing. They would have been married 62 years next month. She was an amazing Mom to Sharon Patton (companion Jeff Leisey), Brian Patton, and Jane (Patton) Schmidt (husband Carlton). “Nanny” was treasured and adored by her sixteen grandchildren: Derek, Abby, Boston, Dylan, Aubrey, Gracie, Kelsey, Tanner (wife Samantha), Jacqueline, Karly, Lucas, Myah, Cooper, Emma, Josiah, and Carter, as well as her seven great-grandchildren: Isaac, Viviana, Lydia, Kennedy, Nolan, Peyton, and Ashten. She counted each one as a blessing. Also surviving are two sisters, Dorothy Huber, Shillington, and Ruth Rack, Tucson, Arizona – and a host of nieces and nephews who loved their Aunt Sara! She was pre-deceased by siblings Clayton, Caroline, Eva, Arlene, Raymond, and Floyd.
Graduating from Reading High in 1955, she then focused on marriage and raising a family. Only when her kids were older did she pursue her dream. She graduated from RACC’s nursing program and was an RN at Reading Hospital for many years, also working part-time at Berks Heim. Her patients ranged the lifespan, from premature infants, to holding the hands of the elderly as they ended their life journey. She prayed for them all. A member of Grace Church, Shillington, and the former St. Luke’s E.C. Church, Shillington, Sara knew her bible well, taught Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and was the mom who drove the neighborhood on Sunday mornings in the 1970s, piling ten kids into her station wagon for church.
She was the most nurturing, loving, giving and self-sacrificing person known to her family and friends, and spent her entire life caring for other people, placing herself last. Her soul was a candle in the window, a beacon of light and hope - for others going through darkness, whether she knew them or not. Her faith was the very essence of her being, and everyone she spoke with knew that she loved and worshipped her Lord. She then suffered bravely and silently, in the grasp of a cruel disease. Those chains are now gone; she’s been set free! When she skipped through Heaven’s gates on Good Friday, we know she heard the words she strived for: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of your Lord!" (Matthew 25:21)” We rejoice in knowing that, without a doubt, she turned and waved goodbye to that wheelchair, with a smirk on her face, and is now running barefoot, singing, and dancing with the Angels! A very special, eternal thanks go out to the A-3 staff at Berks Heim, who compassionately cared for Sara over the last 5½ years.
Honoring her wishes that ‘no fuss be made,’ there will be no services and burial will be private.
The Kuhn Funeral Home, West Reading, is graciously assisting with final arrangements.
How can you honor Sara? The request is a simple one. Take your own candle, the one shining brightly in your own soul, and go light the world!