Patricia Ann "Pat" Gepner was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend — one of the strongest women many of us have ever known. She knew what it meant to work hard, love deeply, and show up for the people she cared about, always.

Pat was born Helen Jean Kinnaman on May 12, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas. At age six, she was adopted by Emil and Pearl Marshall and given the name Patricia Ann. Her early life was not always easy, and she knew the loneliness of growing up separated from her birth family — but those experiences helped shape the remarkable woman she would become.

On February 1, 1953, Pat married the love of her life, Ernest Dewain "Dewain" Gepner. Together they built a life, a farm, and a family — four children, and being their mother was Pat's greatest joy and proudest accomplishment. Being a mother wasn't simply something Pat did. It was who she was. Whatever the family needed — a meal, a ride, a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on — Pat was there.

Her children, Bob, Vickie, Ray, and Scott, were the center of her world, and that love only grew as her family expanded to grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Family was, without question, her favorite thing — sharing a meal, playing cards, telling stories, traveling, fishing, or simply sitting together.

Pat wore many hats: nurse, farmer, crop adjuster, baker, Avon lady, cook, seamstress, homemaker, mother. She worked multiple jobs and worked alongside Dewain on the farm — cooking for farmhands, driving wheat trucks, caring for livestock, helping with crops.

She was afraid of nothing. She could drive a grain truck with inches to spare, take care of a baby, cook a meal, and sew something that needed fixing, often all in the same afternoon — and still found a way to help someone else. To this day, her family isn't quite sure what she couldn't do. That was Pat.

She worked hard. She loved hard. She gave hard. If she had something, she shared it. If someone needed something, she found a way to help — her time, her energy, her resources, her love, never making a big deal of any of it.

Pat and Dewain shared a love of adventure, traveling throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, and beyond. They camped, fished, and made memories that would last a lifetime. Some of Pat's happiest moments were simply sitting in the middle of a lake on a boat with the people she loved.

In 1988, Pat set out to find the family she had lost as a little girl — her birth mother and younger brother, Walter. Through determination, newspaper articles, courthouse records, and the kindness of many people, she found Walter Lee Harris in Wellington, Kansas. Their reunion was one of the great joys of her life. Walter's unexpected death the following year was heartbreaking, but Pat was grateful for the months they'd had. She never stopped reaching out to the people she loved — the family she was born into, the family who adopted her, and the family she and Dewain created together.

She once said she wished she could have lived closer to her great-grandchildren, so she could have known them better — and worried that to them she might simply be remembered as "the old lady in the corner."

We hope she knows how much more than that she was. Pat was never really meant for the corner. She loved bright colors (purple, red, & turquoise), bold clothes, and décor that made a statement. She had a big personality and a voice to match — she spoke confidently, laughed loudly, and was never afraid to be exactly who she was. She filled a room simply by being in it, and her confidence always came with a tremendous heart. That was Pat — you always knew when she was in the room, and you were always glad she was there. ❤️

She didn't just build a life. She built a family and a legacy. And those of us fortunate enough to call her Mom, Grandma, Great-Grandma, sister, or friend will carry it with us for the rest of our lives.

We will carry her stories. We will carry her laughter. We will carry her strength. Most of all, we will carry her love loudly.

We were incredibly lucky to have her.

Rest in peace.

There will be a Celebration of Life in the future. If you are interested in attending, please contact the family.