Joan Bridges Adamson - I have so many good memories of fun times with Pat. She was my cousin, but perhaps more special, her mother was my mother's twin sister. I sometimes wondered if the closeness of twins could have been passed on to each of us - the oldest daughters of those "Cooper twins". I look at her picture and expect to hear her voice offering one of her funny, sometimes pithy comments on the oddities of humanity. Years have passed when we have not been able to see each other, but her passing will leave a deep, empty hole in my heart. I have two memories I would like to share with her children and grandchildren. First is from a long, long time ago. Patty was still in high school and I was going to Business School in Muncie and staying with our Aunt Georgia. I was trying to phone her to see if she wanted to go to a movie. I kept getting a busy signal. Instead of hanging up, I just kept dialing. I don't know how long this went on but suddenly I heard this annoyed voice coming through the busy signal -- "Oh, PEANUT BUTTER !!!" This was cousin Pats favorite expression of disgust at this time - she told me she had better ones, but wasn't allowed to use them. I started laughing, and we finally connected. The second is a story she told of an incident from work. She had an ongoing exchange of jokes with one of her fellow workers. Her latest return joke was to fill a small box with paper punch outs and fix it so that when it was opened, all those little round pieces would spill out. It had worked to perfection, and she was laughing days later. Oh, and one more was her account of the time she was in a car wreck in Kokomo and had broken her leg. When the ambulance attendants were splinting the leg and attending her other injuries, one was calling in the incident to the hospital. He announced that he had a female, so many years old, etc !!! He got her age wrong, and Patty, in the middle of her pain, yelled out, it's such and such NOT such and such you ######. Patty was one for correct information irregardless !!! I will miss her - and know that her children and grandchildren will be lost without her love and wisdom. I hope you can do what I have done. Collect all the memories of the good times, the funny times, and yes, the bad times as well. Keep those memories close to your heart, and live your life in a way to honor those memories. NEVER forget to look for the funny side of life !!! My thoughts and prayers are with you all. And to Patty, please take my message of love and respect with you to all our family members who have gone before to prepare a place for us. I know there is a big Cooper welcome party still going on in heaven with all our family who are there getting together to take Patty home. I wonder if they have home cooked food at those welcoming parties??? Love and Hugs from Joan
7/18/2010 1:37 PM

anitafoy(smith) - Thinking about you! I live in virginia now ! Don't hear from much of anybody,Larry sometimes!
7/18/2010 8:42 PM

Walter & Virginia Ullman - July 19, 2010 To all of Patty’s family, especially to Patty’s sons, Steve, Chip, and Jimmy. This is from Patty’s cousin, Walt. I’ll warn you now that what follows is lengthy, but I wanted to speak first of Patty and also somewhat for her. Forgive me if this seems a bit “over-the-top” to some, I mean no offense, only blessings and good. When I was a little boy, and I would visit the home of my Aunt Evelyn and Uncle Jim Ullman on Jefferson Street in Muncie, Patty was nearly always there. She was the senior sibling of Jim’s and Evelyn’s three children. She always seemed in control and very mother like -- always so loving and caring – not just to me, but also to Skip and Georgia. Skip, Georgia, and I would tease each other unmercifully, always happy and laughing – During the cold months, Skip and Georgia would mock threaten “to set me down and roast me on the (heat) register.” Patty always kept an eye on us lest things get out of hand, but she would giggle and laugh right along with Skip and Georgia and me. I will always cherish those memories. When I became an adult, when I went off to war in Vietnam, and through life’s events and struggles (right up to last Saturday, July 17, 2010 in the early hours of the morning) I would receive word from time to time, through my mother and dad, or through Uncle Jim and Aunt Evelyn, or through Skip and Georgia, that Patty still thought of me and was concerned about me – just like when I was a little boy – she was still the senior sibling, and still the mother figure that I remembered. At some point during all those many years, I finally became aware of Patty’s care and concern for me, and I began to care and be concerned for her also – and I loved her. There was very little I could do for her in physical terms, but I could and I did pray for her – much and often. But how often do we people wait (in a pilot’s vernacular) until we run out of airspeed, altitude, and ideas all at the same time – and then we pray. But He still hears and He honors our prayers. In the book of Isaiah, the 65th chapter, the 24th verse, God speaks of prayer through the prophet, “Before they call I will answer; while they are speaking I will hear.” I pray now for Patty’s brother and sister, Skip and Georgia, and for all in both their families, that they be comforted and receive God’s peace. I also pray for Patty’s boys, Steve, Chip, and Jimmy – and for all their families, that they each consider their mother’s faith and her love. Consider doing what I’m certain she has prayed for deeply and often, that they seek the Lord. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, chapter 55, verse 6, saying (perhaps warning), “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.” And lest you dismiss the word of the “Old Testament” as outmoded and superseded by the New, I invite you to read from the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, as he prophesies about the Messiah who was yet to come – Jesus of Nazareth, God’s Son, our Lord, the One in whom your mother placed her faith. My cousin, Patty Stahl, is gone from us now -- residing in heaven with our Lord Jesus Christ, seeing Him face-to-face. What a blessing! I pray that each of us experience that as well! Patty believed in the promise given in the Gospel of John, 3rd Chapter, and 16th verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Apostle Paul tells us in his letter to the church in Ephesus, the second chapter, verses 8 & 9 that we do not earn what was promised: “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith – and this not of our selves, it is the gift of God –not by works, so that no one can boast.” So Patty has already received the promised gift of eternal life, by His grace through faith, and she now awaits the arrival of those who also believe in the promise who are living in His grace through faith. In the Gospel of John, 5th Chapter, verse 5 Jesus said “I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. “ Through Adam & Eve, we learn that we are all children of a fallen race [Genesis chapter 3]. In addition to the “original sin” of Adam & Eve, the Apostle Paul tells us that we all sin, “ . . . for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” [Romans 3:23] Paul tells us again saying that we all deserve death under God’s law . . . but that we receive life through the gospel (or “good news”), “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life” [Romans 6:23]. How do we get from condemnation under God’s law to forgiveness in His grace through faith? Before Jesus incarnation, the Jewish people tried in vain to live their lives without sin under the law. Because they could not satisfy the law, they, each, were required to make an offering of a perfect lamb to be sacrificed in death (killed) for their sins each year. In His love for us, God the Father sent Jesus Christ, His only Son, into our sinful world for one central purpose: to be a living sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is called “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.” God the Father saw fit that Jesus be sacrificed as “the Perfect Lamb” once for the sins of all. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter five, verse17, Jesus said “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” Jesus is the only person to live without sin – He alone lived a perfect life under the law. In his first epistle, the Apostle John declares in chapter 1, verses 8 & 9 “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” More than one wise man has said, “If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing you should do is stop digging! You may wonder, “What does that have to do with this subject?” God says that we must first repent – meaning to turn around, or to turn away from what we are doing wrong, and turn toward what is right. God is a righteous God – He cannot condone wrong doing. His laws are right and fair. He does not “grade on a curve,” comparing our behavior with one another. We either keep all the law all the time, or we fail to keep the law. The gospel is the “good news” that God understands that we cannot, on our own, keep His law. So He sent His Son to keep the law for us. And because He demands death under the law for each of us who sin, He also sent His Son to be sin for all of us who do sin. You may say, “That isn’t fair! Jesus shouldn’t have had to die for us!” But that is exactly what Jesus did, in pure obedience to His Father – Jesus died once for the sins of all so that those who believe in Him will have eternal life. If you haven’t already, confess your sins to God, repent of your wrong doings, and seek God and His will through His Word. The gospel of John begins in the first chapter, the first verse, saying “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.” Consider that Christianity is from Judaism – Jesus was a Jew. Christianity is the fulfillment of God’s promise given first in Genesis to all me, then later through Abraham to the Jews. The Apostle Paul called himself the “Chief of sinners.” Before he became a Christian, he was known as Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee – a “Jew’s Jew.” Believing Jesus to be a “false messiah,” Saul pursued all those who followed Jesus to bring them back to Jerusalem to kill them. Saul was well known to all the believers in what was then called “the Way.” Saul is first mentioned in the Book of Acts at the very end of chapter 7 or the very beginning of chapter 8. Speaking of the stoning death Steven, of one of Jesus followers, the writer of Acts says, “And Saul was there, giving approval to his death.” You can read about Saul’s conversion to “the Way” or Christianity in the Book of Acts, Chapter 9. God gave the Apostle Paul the task of spreading His Word – Christianity – to the gentiles, the non-Jews. Paul did not write a gospel – a book of witness of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus – but he did write many letters or epistles to churches that Christ started through him. I like to say that Paul preached the word of God about Jesus Christ “where the rubber meets the road.” Paul describes in his letter to the Romans how difficult it is to resist sin. Possibly the most focused portion of this message is to be found in chapter 7 beginning at verse 14, “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do – this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.” Changing from doing what is wrong and doing what is right instead is a long process. When we do what is wrong, we sin. But when we confess our sins, He forgives us. So we live in a state of grace through faith. And we continue trying to do what is right – but we do so with His help. And the more we get to know Him, the easier it becomes. As you confess your sins, receive His forgiveness, and keep on learning more and more about Him. The more you learn, the more you will want to know. I have sent you this letter because I loved my cousin Patty, and because I believe she would want us, believers in Christ, to witness to you about Him. She wants you to join her so that you too will live with your Lord for eternity in heaven. To bear witness to Christ, and to help Patty so that you are reunited with her in heaven is the very least that I can still do. To Christ be the Glory! In His service, your cousin, WALT ULLMAN
7/19/2010 9:01 PM

The Burden family - Steve, Chip, Jim May peace, love and comfort be your's in knowing that she suffers no more. Our love and prayers are with you and your's at this time. Our former neighbor's will never be forgotten. Tina and Terry Winningham Barbara and Bud Paris Jerry Sr., Gary Jeff, Kevin, Nikki Burden
7/19/2010 9:24 PM

Jan - Patty was one of the most kind and caring people that I've had the pleasure of knowing. She will be missed.
7/21/2010 10:59 AM