Grady Patterson

Grady Dewayne Patterson was welcomed into the loving arms of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on January 24, 2025 in Bastrop, Texas at the age of 76. He was born to Grady Price Patterson and Ruby Faye Eckles on August 11, 1948 in San Angelo, Texas. His parents moved to Slaton, Texas in 1954 where Dewayne graduated from Slaton High School in 1967.

He was a proud veteran of the United State Army, joining in January 1968. After completing Basic Training at Fort Bliss, he was stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany but also was posted for a short time in Crete. His time off was spent traveling around Europe. Two of his favorite trips were skiing in Austria and touring Denmark.

After his honorable discharge from the Army, he moved to Irving and enrolled in the DeVry Technical Institute in Dallas earning a degree in Electrical Engineering in 1972. Soon after his graduation, he started working for Southwestern Bell Telephone in Dallas. After his 27 years of working for the phone company there was nothing he did not know about the mechanics of telecommunications. He worked as repairman, an installer, a splicer, the manager of a repair crew and in his last position as an Outside Plant Engineer. After starting his career in Dallas he worked in Abilene, Austin, Waco, finishing his career back in Austin. He retired in 1999. He then went to work as an independent contractor, designing copper and fiber optic cable routes. This afforded him the opportunity to work in several states; Florida, New York, Illinois, Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and of course Texas. He worked twenty-one years as a contractor before officially retiring in 2020.

Shortly after returning home from Germany he met his future wife, Mary Gale Harrison, who was from Texarkana, Texas. They married on January 15, 1972 in Texarkana. Because they grew up in such different parts of Texas they agreed before marrying that Mary would never ask Dewayne to live in East Texas where he claimed he felt claustrophobic and could not see anything because of the trees. The second part of the agreement was that Dewayne would never ask Mary to live in West Texas because there were no trees. She came to appreciate mesquite trees when they lived in Abilene. They were blessed with two children, of whom he was always extremely proud, Mitchell Wade and Courtney Lynne.

Dewayne was preceded in death by his parents, Grady and Ruby Patterson, two brothers, Jesse and Billy, a sister, Doris Strain Pope, two brothers-in-law, Melvin Elliott and Franklin Strain, niece, Vicki Elliott and nephew, Larry Elliott.

Dewayne is survived by his wife Mary of Flatonia, son and daughter-in-law Mitchell and Heidi Patterson of San Antonio, daughter, Courtney Wadle of Thorndale, granddaughters Jaycee Chandler and Carsyn Tucek both of Thorndale, who were the lights of his life, special daughter and grandson, Francie Pittman and Ben Pittman of Plano, his sister Barbara Elliott of College Station, eight nieces and nephews and numerous great-nieces and nephews and great-great nieces and nephews.

The family will Celebrate his life with a graveside memorial service in April at the DFW National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, please consider memorials to: Tunnels to Towers Foundation. T2T.Org or the charity of your choice.