Patricia Anne Rhay

A fiercely courageous, loyal and passionate woman, our mother, left our world on February 13, 2012.

Patricia Ann Rhay was born on December 19, 1924, in Minneapolis MN to Thomas Edwin Smith and Lillian Adele Olsen-Smith. Her family moved to Seattle in 1928, where she graduated from Ballard High School and attended the University of Washington. She lived through the Great Depression, and the death of her first husband, Richard Irwin Tracy that died while serving on the USS Indianapolis in WWII.

Pat moved to Walla Walla, Washington in 1946 to care for her brother and sister after the death of her mother and while her father was Warden of the Washington State Penitentiary. There she met and married her second husband, our father, Bobby J. Rhay in March of 1949. After two years in New York, the couple returned to Walla Walla and in 1957, Bob became Warden of the Washington State Penitentiary.

This incredible woman raised seven girls, Kathleen T. Ferguson, Colleen C. Rhay, Maureen O. Hollister, Bridgid B. Smith, Megan I. Sweeters, Patricia D. Rhay and Ann E. Rhay on the grounds of the prison in Walla Walla. Her protectiveness and love for all of us was and remains our anchor for life. She is survived by her seven daughters, 12 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, as well as her brother and sister, James Thomas Smith and Barbara Jean Ashmore. She is now in Heaven and will forever be in our hearts.

Viewing & visitation will be held on Friday, February 17, 2012 from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM at the Herring Groseclose Funeral Home, 315 W. Alder, Walla Walla, WA. The Funeral Service will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2012 at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Walla Walla at 10:00 AM the Rev. Dr. Stephen Juergensen officiating. Graveside services will follow at Mountain View Cemetery. Being that Patricia was a breast cancer survivor, she would like any donations in her memory to be made to Susan G. Koman Foundation through the funeral home.