Lanier County GaArchives Obituaries.....Patten, John Drawdy "J. D." October 18, 2007 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Shirley McMillan Durden http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00025.html#0006039 May 28, 2014, 5:42 pm The Berrien Press - October 2007 J. D. Patten, 99, died October 18, 2007, ten days before celebrating his 100th birthday. Invitations had been mailed. He died in the hospital founded largely because of his efforts and influence. Birth did not come easy at the beginning of the 20th century when John Drawdy Patten, JR. entered the world on Oct. 28, 1907 at the ancestral Patten homestead a few miles north of Milltown (now Lakeland). His parents were the late John and Lona Davis Patten, Sr. During his final weeks of declining health, J.D. must have looked back at the years between 1907 and 2007. Many of them were not easy, but great would have been his satisfaction in knowing that for hundreds of friends, neighbors and business associates, he had made their burdens lighter. He probably recalled his boyhood days on the farm as one of a family of ten children when times were very hard, before the days of electricity and the telephone. Hes father, J.D., Sr. moved his family to Milltown in 1924. He was devoted to the First Baptist Church where he served many years as a deacon. He took pride in his heritage and was a magnate and historical authority for all of the living Pattens. But, most of all, he was devoted to Alene, his beloved wife of 77 years, and their four children, John Evans, Donald, Nanette and Hilda. Survivors include his wife, Alene O'Quinn Patten; daughters and son-in-law, Nanette and Bill Davis, Hilda Patten; sons and daughters-in-law, Rev. John Evans and Nanette Patten, Donald and Emma Patten; sister, Helen Warriner of Summit Point, WVA; 11 grandchildren, Terry and Ricky Moore, Suzanne and Jerry Mathis, Becky and Gerry Harris, Pat and Kay Patten, Cheryl and Ricky Pounds, Donnie Patten, JoAnn and Bill Fort, Donna and Rick Fenchel, Laurie and Rick Sheehan, Randy and Tina Patten, Bill and Robin Davis; 26 great-grandchildren, seven great-great-grandchildren. Funeral services were held October 21 at 2 p.m.at the First Baptist Church of Lakeland with entombment to follow in the Greenlawn Cemetery Mausoleum. Music Funeral Home of Lakeland was in charge of arrangements. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/lanier/obits/p/patten3952nob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/gafiles/ File size: 2.7 Kb