- Date Of Birth: January 14, 1933
- Date Of Death: February 12, 2020
- State: Texas
Patricia Anne Lawshe Barton passed away on February 12, 2020 in Belton, Texas. She was born on January 14, 1933 in San Antonio, Texas, the only child of Bess Wallace Lawshe and Frank Louis Lawshe. Known as “Patsy,” she attended San Antonio schools and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School in 1950. She earned a B.A. degree in art from Southern Methodist University in 1954, where she was a member of the Alpha Upsilon Chapter of Delta Gamma Fraternity for four years, serving as president in 1953.
She was president of the campus League of Women Voters in 1952. Pat returned to San Antonio to live with her widowed father and work as an assistant buyer and wedding consultant at The Vogue, a chic downtown department store. She met Lt. John Allen Barton, Jr. on a blind date. They married in August 1955 in San Antonio and were together for 55 years. As a US Air Force wife and mother, Pat volunteered with social, school, and church groups at her homes in Lubbock, San Antonio, Washington, DC, Colorado Springs, CO, and the island of Guam, including Delta Gamma alumnae groups.
She was president of the Washington, DC Dental Officers’ Wives Club in 1969 and of the Andersen AFB Medical Wives in 1973. Pat and John moved to Salado on his retirement in 1976. In addition to caring for older relatives and neighbors, Pat was president of the Salado Chamber of Commerce Auxiliary, a founder and three-time president of the Salado Historical Society, chair of the Salado Historical District Commission, chair of the Salado Art Fair, and a ten-year member of the Bell County Historical Commission. At Salado United Methodist Church, she was on the administrative council, was a delegate to Annual Conference, and chaired the committee that oversaw relocation of the church to Royal Street. She was a devoted employee of Salado Galleries for eighteen years, a lifelong Republican, and a keen historical and genealogical researcher.
She is survived by three daughters, Karen Barton Lane (James) of Temple; Beth Barton Schweiger (Thomas) of Bellevue, Washington; and Nancy Barton Tuck (Jeffrey) of Pearland; six grandchildren, David E. Ridley-Lane (Megan) of New Rochelle, NY; Bennett H. Lane (Hana) of Fort Thomas, KY; Jeffrey Jonathan Tuck of Pearland; Marcus M. Schweiger of New York, NY; Emry Anne Tuck of Pearland; and William Kellen Tuck of
Pearland. She is also survived by two nieces, one nephew, and four great-grandchildren.
