Patricia Jonakin Worsham, 96, passed away peacefully at Parkwest Hospital on June 16, 2019. She was born April 13, 1923 in Nashville to Seisel N. Jonakin and Pearl Jolley Jonakin.
When Pat was quite young, her family moved to Chattanooga. She was educated in the public schools there, graduating from Chattanooga High School in 1940. She attended Edmondson School of Business and the University of Chattanooga.
She served as secretary in the Provost Marshal General's Office of the War Department in Michigan and Texas during the World War II years. Thereafter, she was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority as an attorney's assistant, traveling in the seven-state TVA area in the acquisition of land for transmission lines and substation sites.
She married Robert E. Worsham in 1951, and in 1954 they and their two small children moved to Oak Ridge, where he was employed by ORNL. Oak Ridge was her "home city" for the remainder of her life, with the one exception being a year spent in England. She was a homemaker and participated in her children's activities until they were both in senior high school. At that time she returned to the workplace as secretary to the Superintendent of Schools for several years. She then attended the Brown College of Court Reporting in Atlanta, and became a freelance court reporter in Oak Ridge, Knoxville and surrounding counties until her retirement in 1993.
Pat was a 50+ year member of the League of Women Voters, serving on the board and in various capacities, the most significant being the years before and during the incorporation of the City of Oak Ridge and the referendum that determined the ownership of what is now the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
An avid reader, she loved her "home city" and always maintained an active interest in whatever was happening there. She enjoyed gardening, traveling both stateside and abroad, social contacts with her many friends and playing duplicate bridge, at which she attained the rank of Life Master. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her three brothers, all of Chattanooga: Seisel N. Jonakin, Jr., Kenneth W. Jonakin, and Robert E. Jonakin.
She is survived by her children, Jennifer Worsham Newman (James E.) of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jeffrey Jonakin Worsham (Jean Kavanaugh) of Louisville, Tennessee, two granddaughters, Kelsey Worsham Powell and Emily Worsham Correa and one great grand-daughter. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She had a profound effect on all our lives and we will all miss her wise counsel and her indomitable spirit very much.
She will be interred in Chattanooga Memorial Park with her parents and her brothers. At her request, this will be a private graveside service at a later date. One of her greatest pleasures all her life was reading, and as her eyesight failed her most treasured possession was her Kindle.
Donations in her name can be made to the Oak Ridge Public Library (P.O. Box 1, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0001) Her family wishes to thank the kind people of Parkwest Hospital who pulled us through those last days, and Greenfield of Oak Ridge, whose residents and staff lovingly took her into their community in the last months of her life.
Arrangements by Weatherford Mortuary. An on-line guest book can be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com
Weatherford Mortuary obituary
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Monday, June 17, 2019
.
When Pat was quite young, her family moved to Chattanooga. She was educated in the public schools there, graduating from Chattanooga High School in 1940. She attended Edmondson School of Business and the University of Chattanooga.
She served as secretary in the Provost Marshal General's Office of the War Department in Michigan and Texas during the World War II years. Thereafter, she was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority as an attorney's assistant, traveling in the seven-state TVA area in the acquisition of land for transmission lines and substation sites.
She married Robert E. Worsham in 1951, and in 1954 they and their two small children moved to Oak Ridge, where he was employed by ORNL. Oak Ridge was her "home city" for the remainder of her life, with the one exception being a year spent in England. She was a homemaker and participated in her children's activities until they were both in senior high school. At that time she returned to the workplace as secretary to the Superintendent of Schools for several years. She then attended the Brown College of Court Reporting in Atlanta, and became a freelance court reporter in Oak Ridge, Knoxville and surrounding counties until her retirement in 1993.
Pat was a 50+ year member of the League of Women Voters, serving on the board and in various capacities, the most significant being the years before and during the incorporation of the City of Oak Ridge and the referendum that determined the ownership of what is now the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
An avid reader, she loved her "home city" and always maintained an active interest in whatever was happening there. She enjoyed gardening, traveling both stateside and abroad, social contacts with her many friends and playing duplicate bridge, at which she attained the rank of Life Master. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her three brothers, all of Chattanooga: Seisel N. Jonakin, Jr., Kenneth W. Jonakin, and Robert E. Jonakin.
She is survived by her children, Jennifer Worsham Newman (James E.) of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jeffrey Jonakin Worsham (Jean Kavanaugh) of Louisville, Tennessee, two granddaughters, Kelsey Worsham Powell and Emily Worsham Correa and one great grand-daughter. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She had a profound effect on all our lives and we will all miss her wise counsel and her indomitable spirit very much.
She will be interred in Chattanooga Memorial Park with her parents and her brothers. At her request, this will be a private graveside service at a later date. One of her greatest pleasures all her life was reading, and as her eyesight failed her most treasured possession was her Kindle.
Donations in her name can be made to the Oak Ridge Public Library (P.O. Box 1, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0001) Her family wishes to thank the kind people of Parkwest Hospital who pulled us through those last days, and Greenfield of Oak Ridge, whose residents and staff lovingly took her into their community in the last months of her life.
Arrangements by Weatherford Mortuary. An on-line guest book can be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com
Weatherford Mortuary obituary
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Monday, June 17, 2019
.
Patricia Jonakin Worsham, 96, passed away peacefully at Parkwest Hospital on June 16, 2019. She was born April 13, 1923 in Nashville to Seisel N. Jonakin and Pearl Jolley Jonakin.
When Pat was quite young, her family moved to Chattanooga. She was educated in the public schools there, graduating from Chattanooga High School in 1940. She attended Edmondson School of Business and the University of Chattanooga.
She served as secretary in the Provost Marshal General's Office of the War Department in Michigan and Texas during the World War II years. Thereafter, she was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority as an attorney's assistant, traveling in the seven-state TVA area in the acquisition of land for transmission lines and substation sites.
She married Robert E. Worsham in 1951, and in 1954 they and their two small children moved to Oak Ridge, where he was employed by ORNL. Oak Ridge was her "home city" for the remainder of her life, with the one exception being a year spent in England. She was a homemaker and participated in her children's activities until they were both in senior high school. At that time she returned to the workplace as secretary to the Superintendent of Schools for several years. She then attended the Brown College of Court Reporting in Atlanta, and became a freelance court reporter in Oak Ridge, Knoxville and surrounding counties until her retirement in 1993.
Pat was a 50+ year member of the League of Women Voters, serving on the board and in various capacities, the most significant being the years before and during the incorporation of the City of Oak Ridge and the referendum that determined the ownership of what is now the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
An avid reader, she loved her "home city" and always maintained an active interest in whatever was happening there. She enjoyed gardening, traveling both stateside and abroad, social contacts with her many friends and playing duplicate bridge, at which she attained the rank of Life Master. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her three brothers, all of Chattanooga: Seisel N. Jonakin, Jr., Kenneth W. Jonakin, and Robert E. Jonakin.
She is survived by her children, Jennifer Worsham Newman (James E.) of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jeffrey Jonakin Worsham (Jean Kavanaugh) of Louisville, Tennessee, two granddaughters, Kelsey Worsham Powell and Emily Worsham Correa and one great grand-daughter. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She had a profound effect on all our lives and we will all miss her wise counsel and her indomitable spirit very much.
She will be interred in Chattanooga Memorial Park with her parents and her brothers. At her request, this will be a private graveside service at a later date. One of her greatest pleasures all her life was reading, and as her eyesight failed her most treasured possession was her Kindle.
Donations in her name can be made to the Oak Ridge Public Library (P.O. Box 1, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0001) Her family wishes to thank the kind people of Parkwest Hospital who pulled us through those last days, and Greenfield of Oak Ridge, whose residents and staff lovingly took her into their community in the last months of her life.
Arrangements by Weatherford Mortuary. An on-line guest book can be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com
Weatherford Mortuary obituary
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Monday, June 17, 2019
.
When Pat was quite young, her family moved to Chattanooga. She was educated in the public schools there, graduating from Chattanooga High School in 1940. She attended Edmondson School of Business and the University of Chattanooga.
She served as secretary in the Provost Marshal General's Office of the War Department in Michigan and Texas during the World War II years. Thereafter, she was employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority as an attorney's assistant, traveling in the seven-state TVA area in the acquisition of land for transmission lines and substation sites.
She married Robert E. Worsham in 1951, and in 1954 they and their two small children moved to Oak Ridge, where he was employed by ORNL. Oak Ridge was her "home city" for the remainder of her life, with the one exception being a year spent in England. She was a homemaker and participated in her children's activities until they were both in senior high school. At that time she returned to the workplace as secretary to the Superintendent of Schools for several years. She then attended the Brown College of Court Reporting in Atlanta, and became a freelance court reporter in Oak Ridge, Knoxville and surrounding counties until her retirement in 1993.
Pat was a 50+ year member of the League of Women Voters, serving on the board and in various capacities, the most significant being the years before and during the incorporation of the City of Oak Ridge and the referendum that determined the ownership of what is now the Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge.
An avid reader, she loved her "home city" and always maintained an active interest in whatever was happening there. She enjoyed gardening, traveling both stateside and abroad, social contacts with her many friends and playing duplicate bridge, at which she attained the rank of Life Master. In addition to her parents, she is predeceased by her three brothers, all of Chattanooga: Seisel N. Jonakin, Jr., Kenneth W. Jonakin, and Robert E. Jonakin.
She is survived by her children, Jennifer Worsham Newman (James E.) of Jacksonville, Florida, and Jeffrey Jonakin Worsham (Jean Kavanaugh) of Louisville, Tennessee, two granddaughters, Kelsey Worsham Powell and Emily Worsham Correa and one great grand-daughter. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She had a profound effect on all our lives and we will all miss her wise counsel and her indomitable spirit very much.
She will be interred in Chattanooga Memorial Park with her parents and her brothers. At her request, this will be a private graveside service at a later date. One of her greatest pleasures all her life was reading, and as her eyesight failed her most treasured possession was her Kindle.
Donations in her name can be made to the Oak Ridge Public Library (P.O. Box 1, Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0001) Her family wishes to thank the kind people of Parkwest Hospital who pulled us through those last days, and Greenfield of Oak Ridge, whose residents and staff lovingly took her into their community in the last months of her life.
Arrangements by Weatherford Mortuary. An on-line guest book can be signed at www.weatherfordmortuary.com
Weatherford Mortuary obituary
Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Monday, June 17, 2019
.
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