Edith Anne (Patti) Patterson Pearson Norman, age 95, of Swannanoa, NC, went home to the Lord on Friday, January 29, 2021 at her home.

Patti was born at home, near Flemington, NJ.  She became the youngest of 7 children at the age of 4 when her baby sister and mother passed away.  Raised by a single, loving father through the Depression and WWII, she became independent and resilient.  Immediately after graduation at the top of her class at Princeton High School, she chose to help the WWII effort by working at the Belle Meade Army Depot alongside German and Italian prisoners of war.  It was there that she met and married her boss, her loving husband, (Chester) Lee Pearson, a WWII Navy Veteran.

Lee and Patti felt a calling to help under-privileged children, and started a church nursery school in 1963.  They spent 11 years attending night school classes to obtain their teaching degrees and moved to the Southwest, and then to Alaska, to teach Native American Eskimo children, Native American Indian children, and Mexican-American children.  Patti retired from the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the State of Alaska, as a teacher.

After Lee’s passing in 1989, Patti married her life-long friend, Frank Norman, in 1997.  After Frank’s passing in 2005, Patti pursued her love of travel and her other life passion,  spending time with her children; son David and wife Judie Pearson of Surprise, AZ; son Bruce Pearson of Allentown, PA; daughter Donna and husband Randy Coca, of Las Cruces, NM; and daughter Bonnie and husband David Amaral of Swannanoa, NC.  She is also survived by 4 grandchildren, and 7 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life officiated by Rev. Sara Lee will take place on Saturday, February 6, 2021 beginning at 1:00 p.m. in Neshanic United Methodist Church, 303 Maple Avenue, Branchburg, NJ 08853.

Patti was laid to rest privately at Readington Reformed Church Cemetery, 124 Readington Road, Readington, NJ 08870.

Arrangements in New Jersey are under the care and direction of Wright & Ford Family Funeral Home and Cremation Services, 38 State Highway 31, Flemington, NJ. The family is being assisted in North Carolina by Harwood Home for Funerals.

Kindly remember that given the current state of the pandemic, masks must be worn at all times on church and cemetery grounds, and social distancing must be maintained. Please follow the instructions of the Wright & Ford Care Team Family Ambassadors upon arrival at each location.

You are encouraged to visit Patti’s permanent life celebration site at www.wrightfamily.com to light a candle of hope, leave messages of condolence, share words of comfort and recollection, and post photographs of her life.

It was Patti’s desire that those wishing to make a memorial contribution consider the Salvation Army or the Billy Graham Evangelical Association.  A lifelong child of Christ, Patti’s humble request is that the thanks, honor and glory be to God, always, and in all things.

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Wright & Ford, your local, family owned & operated “Life Celebration Home”