Grace Hawes Patterson

Grace Hawes Patterson, 72, of Macon, Georgia, went home to the Lord on September 14, 2022.  A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 17, 2022, 4:00 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church with the Reverends John Kinser and Elliott Everitt officiating.  The family will greet friends following the service.  Interment will be private at Christ the Redeemer Anglican Church in Fort Valley, Georgia.  In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Central Georgia CASA, 3888 Northside Drive, Suite B, Macon, GA 31210. For those unable to attend, the funeral will be livestreamed.

Grace was born in Dallas, Texas, to Martha Jane and Robert Hawes. She lived in Dallas until the age of 10 when the family relocated to Los Alamos, New Mexico, where she graduated from high school. She went on to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Home Economics from Texas Tech University. Following college, Grace worked for Levi Strauss and Company and on the Zuni Native American Reservation before obtaining her teaching certificate from the University of New Mexico. She then taught junior high home economics in the Alamogordo, New Mexico public schools. After getting married, she moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where she worked for the Girl Scouts of America. She then moved to Dayton, Ohio, where she gave birth to both her children. The family moved to Warner Robins, Georgia, where Grace was active in her church and with the Officer’s Wives Club.  In 1989, Grace moved with her family to Ramstein, Germany, where she was an active member of her church and deeply involved in her children’s activities. She also taught one year of home economics at Ramstein Junior High School.

Grace returned with her family to the United States in 1993 and lived briefly in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before moving to El Paso, Texas in 1994. While in El Paso, she returned to teaching, first as an elementary school substitute and then as a Foods and Parenting teacher at El Paso Independent School District’s School-Age Parent Center, where she taught for 6 years. In 2001, Grace became an elementary school teacher and taught 4th grade for 1 year at Wainwright Elementary School. In 2002, Grace began teaching at Zach White Elementary School where she was beloved by parents and students alike. In her 12 years at Zach White, she taught 2nd grade for 3 years and then taught 5th grade math and science until she retired in 2014. Grace loved her church home in El Paso, St. Francis Anglican Cathedral, of which she was a founding member, and where she was a long-time member of the choir, altar guild, and Daughters of the King. She was also a member of the Sweet Adelines Barbershop Chorus which performed in El Paso and around the nation as a part of the Sweet Adelines International association. The friendships she made in El Paso always remained an important part of her life.

In 2014, Grace moved to Macon, Georgia, to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church where she was also a member of the choir. She was an active participant in the lives of her children and grandchildren and found great joy in her family and travel in her later years.

Grace was preceded in death by her parents, Martha Janes Hawes (nee Gibson) and Robert Sidney Hawes. She is survived by her children Susanna Patterson, of Macon, Georgia, and Scott (Kelly) Patterson, of Apex, North Carolina; and her grandchildren Christopher James, Anna Grace, Campbell David, Emma Gwen, Charlotte Joy, Conor Cornelius, and Rory Grant Patterson. She is also survived by her sisters Jane (Frank) White of Tempe, Arizona, and Nancy Martin, of Odessa, Texas, and several cousins in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Colorado.

Please visit www.hartsmort.com to express condolences.

Hart’s on Cherry Street, Hart's Mortuary and Cremation Center, 765 Cherry Street, Macon, GA 31201 has charge of the arrangements.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Grace Hawes Patterson, please visit our floral store.