My mother,
Vanza Mae Davis Patterson, passed away on March 15, 2018. This is only good-bye for now. I'll see you soon, Mom.
Wes
Obituary
Vanza Mae Davis Patterson, 78, passed into the waiting arms of her Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ on March 15, 2018.
Vanza was born August 21, 1939, in Greensboro, Guilford County, North Carolina, the third child of Lettie Mae Langley and Troy Lee Davis. Vanza was raised in Greensboro, NC. After graduating from Sumner High School in Greensboro, NC, in 1958, she applied to High Point Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in High Point, NC, and was accepted into the nursing program to start in 1959.
She graduated from nursing school on August 8, 1961. During that same year, one of her patients would later become her father-in-law. This was how Vanza met the love of her life, Francis Oliver “Frank” Patterson. They were married on June 1, 1962. Vanza and Frank – who was in the U.S. Air Force at the time - were married in Trinity, NC, and soon thereafter were transferred to Seymour Johnson AFB in Goldsboro, NC.
They had two sons, the eldest being Francis O. Patterson Jr (Chip), born on May 27, 1963, in Goldsboro, NC. The younger was Charles Wesley Patterson (Wes), born on February 5, 1968, in Decatur, GA, a suburb of Atlanta. Vanza continued nursing in hospitals and nursing homes throughout her life. In 1971, Vanza and Frank moved from Tucker, GA, to Winston-Salem, NC, for Frank to attend Piedmont Bible College. Vanza worked at NC Baptist Hospital from 1971 to 1976. Vanza also attended Piedmont Bible College for one year of Bible study.
Their hearts’ desire was to serve the Lord in any capacity, and eventually this led them to become missionaries on foreign fields. In the summer of 1975, they spent seven weeks in Brazil, believing that was where the Lord was leading them to serve full time. Frank graduated from Piedmont in 1976, and the family moved back to Decatur, GA. In 1979, after changing ministry directions from Brazil to opening a new work in Southeast Asia, the family moved to Bangladesh, arriving there on the 4th of July.