Obituary of Patricia Mary Goss

Mary Patricia Goss was born on Monday, August 14, 1933 at Rosewood Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. She is preceded in death by parents, Nora Bernadette (Tarrant) and Earl Joseph Sampson and daughter Katherine. Pat has two brothers, Paul (Marti) and Daniel (Christine). She is best known to many of us at Pat, Mom, Gram, and Great Gram. Pat attended St. Ethelrida and St. Killian Grammar Schools. She always loved to read and her ambition in school was to get all A’s which she did in graduate school. Her parents were very strict about minding after the rules, telling the truth and going to church. Her father taught her to value learning, education, art and prayer and her mother to value religion and family. Pat loved her father’s smile and to go fishing with him or watching him draw cartoons. She loved her mother’s caring ways and the fact that she could talk to her about anything. Her best friends were Jane, Betty, Dolores and Patt who later became her sister-in-law. In school, Pat participated in sports, the newspaper staff and the drama club for which she earned a scholarship for college. Pat graduated from Mundelein College in 1955 and Longwood Academy in 1957. After graduating, she worked in the test kitchen at Libby’s as the assistant to the director of the Home Ed Department testing recipes and preparing advertising at the Libby’s Plant in the Chicago Stock Yard. For fun on the weekends, Pat went skate dancing and to the movies as well as hanging out at Melody Lane Ice Cream Parlor. Pat met Gene when she was 15, started dating him at 16 and their courtship lasted 7 years. She liked him because he was handsome and funny and shared the same religious values. They were engaged on Christmas Eve 1955 and were married on August 11, 1956 at St. Killian’s Church in Chicago. Her most vivid memory of their wedding day was seeing Gene waiting for her at the altar. After the ceremony, they celebrated with family and friends over a luncheon and had a chocolate wedding cake. Her favorite wedding gift was a cake stand that is still used for all the birthday cakes. Pat’s family grew to include Eugene and Florence (Kelley) Goss, Bill Goss, Chuck and Mary Jean (Goss) Cody, and Bob and Patt (Goss) Simmons. Pat and Gene started their married life in Laredo, Texas where Gene was a pilot for the United States Air Force. After they married, she kept house, had babies and “loved it”! Pat and Gene had seven children; Jim (Linda), Gene (Betsy), John (Sara), Mike (Julie), Susan, Kathy (Chris), and Ellen (Jason). They have sixteen grandchildren; Jeff (Sue), Andy (Anna), Erin (Mark), Drew (Kathryn), Joshua, Kelly (Bryce), Steven, John, Michael, Hans, Ellen, Adam, Renee, Sampson, Sydney and Amy; and nine great-grandchildren, Olivia, Christine, Natalie, Lucy, Vivi, Graham, Hunter, Aspen, and Dylan. The Air Force kept the Goss family on their toes. Pat and Gene currently reside in Pearland, Texas but they lived in Illinois, Texas, Arizona, England, Nevada, Florida, Michigan, New Mexico, California, North Carolina and Georgia – just to name a few. At the age of 50, she went back to school for a Master’s degree in Counseling. After retiring to Florida, Pat took some painting classes taught by artist Linda Holmes. Pat’s paintings were featured in Coquina Crossings art gallery and have been admired by many. Pat’s friendship with Linda went beyond painting and they supported each other through their cancer treatments and like good friends, they have many special memories shared between them. Pat also made time to see the birth of grandchildren, attend baptisms, birthdays, graduations, sporting events, nurse pinning ceremonies, bar & bat mitzvahs and many other cherished occasions. Pat traveled near and far to be with all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren not only in the states but also in the Netherlands. Pat’s favorite saying was “One day at a time” and she still liked the old-fashioned ways of life in the slow lane, sitting on the porch, quit talking, holding hands and going to Mass on Sunday. “My wish for the future is that my grandchildren will make room for peace in their hearts and families. That they will grow up knowing that their bodies are “earthen vessels” for their everlasting spirits and give each the care and attention they need. That they will understand several things: we were meant for love alone-love is the work we do for self and others even when we don’t feel like it. That we can change no one but ourselves, but we can change ourselves. And last but not least, that God loves them – always. So darling grandchildren and great grandchildren , you need to know that I love each of you and hope and pray for you all; that you may have happy and useful and long lives. All my love, Grandma Goss” taken from her Grandma Remembers book. A Visitation for Pat will be held on Monday, April 30, 2012 from 6:00 until 8:00 pm with a Rosary recited at 7:00 pm at Clayton Funeral Home, 5530 W. Broadway, Pearland, Texas 77581. The funeral service will be held on Tuesday, May 1, 2012 at 11:00 am at St. Helen Catholic Church, 2209 Old Alvin Road, Pearland, Texas 77581, with Father Reginald Nesvadba officiating. Interment will follow at Houston Memorial Gardens Cemetery.