Patricia Jeanne “Pati” Walenta
WALENTA, CAMPION, WELCH, STUHR
Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 5/9/2023 at 10:36:10
Patricia Jeanne “Pati” Walenta passed away on March 29, 2023 at the Simpson Memorial Home in West Liberty, Iowa.
Pati was born in Iowa City, Iowa on June 7, 1952, to John and Kathleen (Campion) Walenta, the first of their five children. She graduated from Iowa City City High School in 1970. For 45 years, she was a line manager at Sheller Globe/IAC, rarely missing a day of work. She retired in 2015.
Pati was a lifelong Iowa Hawkeyes fan and a proud shareholder in the Green Bay Packers. She loved jelly beans, the color pink, and true crime stories. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of popular music from the ‘60s and ‘70s and she could - and would – sing anything from beginning to end, never missing a word, a beat, or a sound effect. It was a mistake to challenge her at a game of trivia and she could beat all comers up until the last. She thoroughly enjoyed her visits to New Orleans, Padre Island, and Ireland. Pati was known to keep a wary eye on the weather and was always quicker than lightning to alert her loved ones to threatening conditions.
If Pati loved to collect, “junking” in general to see what she could find, she loved giving even more. She gave small and she gave large and was especially delighted to shower her nephew and nieces with gifts.
Heritage meant everything to Pati. She was the determined and protective caretaker of family heirlooms and family memories. She was the living archive of all things family and could vividly recall even the smallest details of neighborhoods, events, and gatherings.
There was a special – and very large – place in her heart for her nephew Duffey, her nieces Katie and Sophie, and her great-niece Olivia.
Pati was captivated by stories of lost, sunken, and hidden treasures and the expeditions to recover them. We trust that she has at last recovered her own most valuable missing treasures in reuniting with those she loved so deeply and has missed so much: her parents, John and Kay Walenta, her sister Virginia, “Pic” Walenta, and her nephew Duffey Welch.
Family remaining to mourn her loss include sisters Theresa of Coralville and Robin (Tracy Stuhr) of Solon, brother Michael (Shannon) of Omaha, nieces Katie Walenta (Brooklyn, NY) and Sophie Walenta (Miami, FL), and great-niece, Olivia Welch (Kansas City), as well as many dearly loved aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends.
A special shout-out and loads of gratitude to the caregivers at the Simpson Memorial Home in West Liberty: they were not only Pati’s caregivers; they were her friends.
Without the UIHC Organ Transplant Center, Pati would not have been given the gift of the last eight years of her life. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to them (UIHC Organ Transplant Center, SE408GH, 200 Hawkins Drive, Iowa City IA 52242) or to Simpson Memorial Home (West Liberty, IA 52776). Family will gather for interment on Sunday, April 2 at 10:00 am at Memory Gardens in Iowa City. A celebration of life will be held in late April, date and place to be determined.
Fair weather ahead, Pati!
Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
Johnson Obituaries maintained by Cindy Booth Maher.
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