The Life of Patricia Louise Westra Patricia (Pat) Louise Westra entered Heavens colorful garden on January 8, 2021 at the young age of 91. Mom always wanted to "beat" Grandma Westras age of 102 , but that wasnt Gods plan. Mom was born and raised in Detroit. She married Dad, Wayne E. Westra in 1951 and they lived in Florida while Dad served in the Navy. They then settled in Allen Park in 1954. Mom and Dad knew each other most of their lives. Dad was raised in Barryton, Michigan, and Moms family had a nearby cottage where they would spend their summers. Dad used to babysit for Mom (they were seven years a part). Mom had written in her childhood diary that someday, she wanted to marry Wayne. And she did! Mom stayed home to raise us girls, Jan Goss (Scott), and Nancy Wolnowsky (John). We used to say she was the best Mom we ever had. One of her passions was sewing. Every Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas she would lovingly create matching outfits for both of us girls (sometimes to our embarrassment as family photos would document see photo album). She made most of our school and play clothes. She even made stuffed animals, pajamas, and our Halloween costumes! Jan remembers being around 11 years old making a yellow sleeveless blouse with Moms help. A friend came to see if Jan could come out to play. Mom made her stay in the house to sew. She didnt exactly share Moms enthusiasm for sewing. Mom never got her drivers license; instead she rode a bicycle that she bought when she lived in Florida in the early 1950s! As little kids, Mom would put us on the back of the bike with a leg in each of two baskets and off wed go to run errands! We spent many miles together on that bike! Mom even took the bike apart a couple times to clean and repaint it, making it all new again; then haul it to the local bike shop and have them put it all back together! (That same bike will be part of Jans garden now, with flowers growing in the baskets!). Mom loved plants and flowers! When we were kids, she grew vegetables behind the garage. Wed take a bucket and pick our dinner; something we would only really appreciate in later years. (Like when she sent Nancy a care package in college that contained four softball-sized, mud-covered beets!). Her backyard looked like a page from a garden magazine. She could grow anything. No planning, just stick it in the ground or in a pot and it grew like a weed! There was always room for one more plant! She would plant 72 pink geraniums in-between her shrubs in the front of the house. She loved those geraniums! The inside of the house was just as full of plants as the backyard. She especially loved African violets. There was a large multi-shelved unit in one of the bedrooms completely full of flowering violets growing under plant lights and even more on a table in the livingroom in front of the big window. She always had bird feeders too. Shed hang them from the old apple tree in the backyard along with multiple bird houses. She gave them a real bed and breakfast! The house was also full of teddy bears! We cant remember how it all startedbut it started! She adored her teddies! Every one was different; big, small, brown, black, white, purple, green! One was given to her by a friend that was so big it sat in the rocking chair in her bedroom! Teddybate, Moms favorite teddy bear (made by Jan and her husband) went to Heaven with her. Mom and Dad joined a group called "The Crack of Dawn Coffee Club "at Lake Erie Metropark. The group met once a month (yes, at the crack of dawn) to have coffee and treats before heading out on the trail with the park interpreter for a morning walk. Mom loved seeing all the wildflowers and birds! On one walk, (there were quite a few people that morning), they stopped along the side of the trail near a field of yellow flowers. The interpreter asked the group how many years each person had been attending the walks. Of course Mom jumped up and said that shes been walking with the group for over 20 years! Everyone smiled. Mom hadnt noticed right away, but there was a new bench in front of that beautiful field of yellow flowers. The group presented that bench to Mom, bearing a plate "In Memory of Pat and Wayne Westra". (Dad passed in 2010 and never saw the bench). The bench was a gift from her friends at the Metropark and the Wolverine Riders motorcycle club (see below). One thing that very few people knew about Mom is that she rollerbladed! Helmet, elbow pads, knee pads; the complete outfit! Shed put her skates in the bike baskets (yes, the same baskets that carried us girls), and rode to a nearby park to go rollerblading! We never saw her do it, but she has photos to prove that she did! She looked like a roller derby queen!!!! Our Mom! Who would have thought? Some people would be surprised to know that Mom and Dad belonged to two motorcycle clubs; the Retreads and the Wolverine Riders! Yes, our parents were bikers and wore leather jackets. Mom would meet Dad at the back door wearing her helmet when he got home from work. That meant they were going out for dinner! Oh how she loved to ride on the back of their bike! They traveled all over the county after Dad retired. It was a role reversal for us girls. We wondered where they were and worried if they didnt call! Many of Moms most special friends came from those clubs. The Wolverine Riders called Mom "their cookie lady!" Mom made cookies for everyone.we mean EVERYONE! The guy who cut the grass, neighbors, friends, and son-in-laws on their birthdays, the plumber, the handyman, the furnace guy, the sprinkler guy, the bus drivers, people on the senior bus, even the crew of cement workers that put in the new cement on her street! Shes make cookies for parties and get-togethers, cookies for Christmas, cookies for Halloween, cookies for Easter, cookies for her Grand Daughters wedding receptioncookies just to make cookies! (The only thing Mom liked more than cookies was chocolate ice cream!!!) Giving cookies was her way of showing how much she appreciated and loved the people in her life. She was truly a person who appreciated friendship. She was always grateful for the little things. She was a "good" person. She was kind to everyone. She always smiled where ever she went. She was quick to start a conversation with strangers be it about the weather, her family, or about something in the grocery store. She somehow met an older woman that lived in a senior apartment nearby. The woman had a hard time getting around, so Mom started running errands for her (on the famous bicycle). The woman used to sew a lot and they would talk about sewing. The womans sewing machine broke so Mom strapped it to the back of the bicycle and took it to get repaired! (The lady, more than likely, received a lot of cookies too). Mom had a huge heart and will be missed by so many people. Oh how Mom loved her two granddaughters Erin Goss and Jennifer Goss (Sean Wcisel) and great grandson Milo Wcisel. She was the kind of Grandma and Great Grandma that played on the floor with them when they were little, playing ball, games, dolls or kitchen. She mailed them special packages of cookies, brownies and small gifts. Postage sometimes cost more than the gift itself. But that is what she liked to do. Jennifer remembered the pickle picker Grandma got her. Jennifer loved pickles! Now so does Milo. Guess what we found in Moms kitchen drawer; a pickle picker; now handed down to Milo. Jennifer also got a very large container of ketchup and Erin the biggest can of chocolate pudding. Special things the kids liked. Mom would decorate t-shirts or sweatshirt for Jennifer and Erin for different occasions. Jennifer remembers the special sweatshirt Grandma made for her when she was going to become a big sister. Erins favorite time with her Grandma was when she would drive to Allen Park to pick her up for holidays and other special occasions. It gave her that special time alone with Grandma. They would stop at "Fowlerville Farms" for lunch and just sit and chat about all sorts of things; just the two of them (no sharing Grandma). Fowlerville Farms had a store full of stuff that Mom loved to look at. They would spend a lot of time looking at everything. Mom loved "stuff". On the drive, Erin and Mom would chat the whole way. Mom was laid to rest at Flake Cemetery in Barryton, Michigan beside Daddy. Also laid to rest in Flake Cemetery are her parents, Lorna and Erwin Abitz, her brother and sister-in law Roger and Barbara Abitz, and other extended family members.

We love you more than all the "grasses and the treeses and the flowerses".

And thats a lot!

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If you would like to make a charitable gift in Moms memory,

weve chosen the following organizations. Lake Erie Metropark "Pat Westra Memorial, Marshland Museum" (in the Memo area on the check) 32481 W. Jefferson Brownstown, Michigan 48173 Faith Hospice "In Memory of Patricia Westra, General Fund" (in the Memo area on the check) 2100 Raybrook SE Suite 300 Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

Moms Favorite Poem that she lived by:

Serenity Prayer

By Reinhold Niebuhr

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things I cannot change;

Courage to change the things I can;

And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;

Enjoying one moment at a time;

Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;

Taking, as He did, this sinful world

As it is, not as I would have it;

Trusting that He will make things right

If I surrender to His Will;

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life

And supremely happy with Him

Forever and ever in the next.

Amen. Graveside Service Wednesday, January 13, 2021 Flake Cemetery 18700 20th Avenue Barryton,MI 49305