Patricia Ann Wallace

Patricia Ann Wallace

October 3, 1933 - May 6, 2018

When a person passes, we are given two dates, the date they were born and the date that they died. In between those two dates is a dash, a small grammatical mark that is intended to represent everything that happened in a person’s life between their birth and death. It’s scarcely enough to describe a person’s lifetime of love, heartache, joys and accomplishments. We remember that regardless of what is written down to recount a person’s life, what really matters are the memories that are neither written or spoken, but live on inside the hearts of those whose lives were forever touched by those who have gone on before us. There will be no monuments or markers to proclaim to the world any great achievements of Patricia A. Wallace, but make no mistake about it, her life of love and selfless giving to others as a result of her deep relationship to her Lord Jesus Christ, will forever serve as a “monument” and an inspiration to those of us left behind on how to live a life not only to the fullest in the best sense of the word, but indeed live a life that will forever be remembered, emulated and rewarded by her Lord and Savior.

Patricia “Pat” Fleischmann, was born at home (on the kitchen table mind you) to parents William Rudolph Fleischmann and Elizabeth (Drees) on October 3, 1933 in Lansing Michigan. Her dad was a German immigrant of the Black Forest area of Germany and her mother from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She answered the Lord’s call and was transferred from her earthly home to Heaven on the Lord’s Day May 6, 2018 at the age of 84 following a short but valiant fight against pancreatic cancer. Between those dates is where Patricia lived her life and left a legacy of love.

Patricia spent her early years growing up in Lansing, MI., and a place she often missed and longed to return. Her sister Carolyn Faye (Donovan) also born in Lansing and her family moved from Michigan in their early years and settled in San Diego where her father among other things started his own restaurant in Pacific Beach and later North Park. Patricia was often found working in the restaurant first washing dishes and later helping with the cooking and serving. As you can imagine this made Patricia a great cook and something she later handed down to others in her family. She attended and graduated from La Jolla High and after her father’s sudden and untimely passing at an early age, went on to get a job working at Solar of San Diego, as an inspector of manufactured aircraft engine parts. In time she met her first husband, Richard Lawson and together they had a son, Scott William Lawson who was born May 2, 1963. Family issues arose which led to divorce and Patricia was left to raise a 5 year old son on her own. In time she returned to vocational school where she received nurses training and was employed by Mesa Vista Hospital, a psychiatric foundation where she eventually worked over 20 years before retiring. Working an evening shift meant that Scott spent much of his time alone and learned to grow up quickly. A special bond only a mother and son can share was tempered through rough times trying to survive. But Patricia always saw to it that Scott did all the things that any other normal family would including vacations, trips to baseball games, fishing, sports of many kinds, but most of all, she taught her son to know and love Jesus Christ and to be a good and decent person with morals and character. She literally bankrupted herself to see to it that Scott later attended college where he accumulated a BA Degree and went on to obtain a Master’s Degree at another institution. In every way she was both a mother and a father to her son.

As time passed and as God directed, a new person entered into her life while Scott was raising a family. One day her son recalls calling his mom to catch up and she announced, “I’m dating the paperboy!” As it turns out that person was the paperboy and his name was Duane Wallace. He had himself gone through some very difficult times in his life and was trying to make his way back into the world. What started as a simple friendship, turned into companionship and before long the two were married. Together they shared over 20 years of marriage which included the restart of Duane’s masonry business. Together with other family members, they operated a small but relatively successful masonry company known as D&R Services, working throughout Southern California, from Los Angeles to San Diego and east to the desert and everyplace in between. Pat served as not only the office staff, she layed bricks right alongside of Duane many times. In time however, Duane developed Alzheimer’s and Dementia and the business was forced to cease operations. For the next several years, Patricia was to be found faithfully at the side of Duane taking care of him almost to the day of his death in late December 2015. Such was the love of Pat for those whose lives she touched.

At the urging of her son Scott, Pat along with her sister Carolyn and Niece Debbie who were also living with her, were encouraged to move to Menifee where she could be closer to Scott and his family to take care of her. So after living over 65 years in San Diego, they moved to Menifee in October of 2016 where they have lived ever since. While not overly excited about moving, Pat saw it necessary especially with her age and some minor health concerns. She really had just begun to settle in to her new home and surroundings before it was determined in recent weeks that she had contracted inoperable metastatic pancreatic cancer. After several hospitalizations she was returned home to hospice care where her family daily was with her, her grandchildren, her sister Carolyn and Scott’s wife Jenny faithfully cared for her giving her love, comfort and medications until she was called by Jesus to be at home with Him forever!

It would be an omission not to recall the parts of Patricia’s life that brought her much joy. Besides her family, she was faithful to her Lord most of all. In fact she was a member of her church in San Diego (Christ Lutheran Church-La Mesa) for over 60 years! God was first priority in her life. In her earlier years she played women’s softball and was an amazing bowler garnering several trophies and championships. She was highly artistic, a painter, an expert gardener, played the organ, an accomplished cook, lover of coffee and Mexican food, loved to fresh water fish, go to the mountains, go to baseball games, be involved in Bible studies, a golfer and an undying and deeply faithful fan of her Chargers football team and the San Diego Padres. But it was her family that always brought her joy, her son Scott, his wife Jenny and their children Andrew and Emily, her sister Carolyn and her children Debbie and Bill, long distance relatives such as cousins back in Michigan, her Duane who left too soon and his entire family, and a myriad of friends and acquaintances from golf and elsewhere who Pat loved to call her friends. And lest we forget some 4-legged friends too not the least of which is her last dog and her love, Shane, who misses his mom very much. Patricia loved all animals and in the final days of her life mentioned to her family that she was especially looking forward to talking to Noah about that boat and all those animals! Today, through the eyes of faith we believe she will get her answers!

At the time of her passing, Patricia had already decided that her wishes were to be cremated and her family to decide on how her remains were to be handled. She simply wanted others to remember her the way she lived and looked in this life and remember that she was in heaven where God had called her not to death but to life!  As such there are no plans at this time for a memorial service, but in the future a private gathering of friends and family may be announced. For those interested in sending a memorial gift, the family has offered 3 suggestions. The first is to help defray the costs involved with her final arrangements and moving her remaining family from the residence in which they were living. Those gifts should be directed to her son Scott Lawson at (29984 Oakbridge Dr. Menifee, CA. 92586). Secondly, Patricia received wonderful care in her last days from the nurses of Hospice of the Valleys. You are welcome to make a donation to them in Patricia’s name at the following link:

https://hospiceofthevalleys.org/donate-now/

Finally, Patricia loved animals and supported various organizations that serve to care for and help our animal friends, one such organization is the San Diego Humane Society. Again you may make a donation in her name at the following link:

https://secure2.convio.net/sdhss/site/Donation2?df_id=8020&8020.donation=form1

When we come to the end of a life, we begin to see that the song we learned so many years earlier in life in Sunday School was true and all that really matters, “Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so.” Because of God’s great love for Patricia Wallace in Jesus Christ who died for her to forgive her sins and three days later came back to life defeating death, Patricia is more alive today than she ever has been. In fact, she is looking at Jesus face to face. Isn’t that amazing and wonderful. And someday by God’s same grace and love, those who loved her in this life will be reunited in Heaven to live together forever in joy and happiness. Such is the goal of our faith. May we all have such faith and confidence in our Lord and His Word that we too when that day comes and God call us by name, we are ready and eagerly waiting to come home! To God be the Glory! And all God’s people said, Amen!

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