Patricia Anne (Pat) Garris

Patricia Anne (Pat) Garris, of Butler, passed from this world on Saturday September 9,2017 at the age of 79. She
was surrounded by her loving daughters and New Haven Court family.
Born March 8,1938, she was the daughter of the late Willard G. and Margaret R. (Oew) Spencer.
Patricia grew up in Pittsburgh PA where she attended Peabody High School. She was always an avid ice
skater who eventually joined the Ice Capades Training School in her teens.
She married her husband (the late) Ronald D. Garris on April 2, 1960. They settled in Butler where they
raised their three daughters.
Pat worked and retired from the Midwestern Intermediate Unit IV in 2000, where she worked as a
teaching assistant in special education. She served 26 years, 15 of those at Clarence Brown Special
School and the other 11 at Irene Stacy children’s partial hospitalization program.
Patricia started to cross stitch and do other forms of needlework in the 1980’s. She was so captured by
the craft that she began filling the walls of her 10 room home with keepsakes to be passed on to family
and friends.
Another of her passions was animals, especially dogs. Pat raised many dogs during her life including her
2 beloved large white Samoyeds. Tasha and Nikki were the catalyst for her becoming a member of the
Butler Dog Training Association. She served as the club secretary for many years in addition to
“showing” her sweet white bears at the Samoyed Dog Club of Pittsburgh. Her last sweet white baby
Louie (a Bichon Frise) now lives with her daughter Laura.
She volunteered and trained to be a hospice worker at Good Samaritan Hospice in Cabot after losing her
husband Ron who had been a patient there for a brief but life altering 6 days in 2009.
Patricia is survived by her daughters, Pamela Lynn (Daryl) Souzer of Sanford Maine, Tracy Jo (Roger)
Reeb of Centerville Ohio and Laura Lee Spencer (Donald) Yasinsky of Butler. Her six grandchildren and 2
great granddaughters, Jason (Tabitha) Souzer, Ashley Souzer, Adam Reeb, Benjamin Reeb, Emily
Yasinsky and Alexander Yasinsky, Riley Souzer and Olivia Blanton will carry her spirit with them.
Pat was proceeded in death by her husband Ronald, her parents, her sister Barbara Moody and her
young great granddaughter Avery Jean Lane.
Friends will be received at the Geibel Funeral Home, 201 East Cunningham Street, Butler, from 5:00 p.m until 7:00 p.m. Wednesday. Funeral Services will follow at 7:00 p.m. at the Funeral Home. The Rev. Jim Lewis, will officiate. Entombment will take place in the Chapel of Devotion Mausoleum of Butler County Memorial Park.