11/05/2025
Gwen Patrick (Freda Gwen Rhodes Patrick)
1931-2025
Gwen Patrick (Freda Gwen Rhodes Patrick), 94, passed away on November 4, 2025, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in the care of her family.
Gwen was born on June 10, 1931 at the family home on their cotton farm near Abernathy in West Texas. She was the seventh of eleven children. Her family was a Nazarene family and attended Abernathy Church of the Nazarene.
After graduating from high school in 1948, Gwen enrolled in Bethany Peniel College, now Southern Nazarene University. She graduated with a degree in Elementary Education in 1953. After graduation, Gwen accepted a teaching position in Petersburg, Texas. From there, she taught in Pueblo, Colorado for four years.
At that time, she decided to apply for a teaching position overseas for the U.S. Air Force. Her first assignment was at an Air Force base in Tokyo, Japan. The next year she was assigned to a base in Ankara, Turkey. The next year she taught in Bitburg AFB, Germany. The following year she came back to Lubbock, Texas and taught 5th grade.
Gwen applied again with the Air Force and was assigned to Greenham Common AFB, England where she taught 2nd grade on base. This is where she met her future husband, Paul Patrick, a weather forecaster who was stationed at the same base. Their friendship began when Paul began giving Gwen a ride to church in his Volkswagen. He asked Gwen to marry him in a field of yellow daisies on a hillside in England. Yellow was always her favorite color. In the summer of 1963, Paul and Gwen were married in Lubbock, Texas, and then returned to England for one more year, where Gwen taught again on the Air Force base.
After returning to the U.S., Paul was assigned to Waco, Texas, where their daughter, Laurie, was born. Then they were assigned to Scott AFB east of St. Louis, where their son, David, was born. They were then stationed at Charleston AFB, South Carolina for four years and spent every Saturday on the beach of Isle of Palms.
Paul and Gwen’s last assignment with the Air Force was for five years at Kelly AFB in San Antonio, Texas. Then their family moved to Bethany, Oklahoma where Paul accepted a position at Southern Nazarene University. Paul worked at SNU for 42 years, and for thirteen of those years, Paul and Gwen were faculty mentors of new students. Both of their children graduated from SNU.
After moving to Bethany, Gwen served as Children’s Church director at Western Oaks Church of the Nazarene for five years. Their family then joined Bethany First Church of the Nazarene where she taught in the Children of the Word Bible study for 10 years. Teaching these children was one of the highlights of her journey as a teacher. Gwen was also a gifted speaker, always teaching Sunday School through the years and was the speaker at several ladies’ retreats. She loved to laugh and loved to celebrate and also made the best fudge to share! If you ever stayed at Paul and Gwen’s house, it was common for her to wake you in the morning singing, “Oh what a beautiful morning! Oh what a beautiful day!”
When the grandchildren came, Gwen, affectionately called “Granny,” took care of them all as they grew up. Granny kept them busy riding big wheels, making mud pies, feeding the ducks, swinging on the porch swing and having tea parties.
Gwen was preceded in death by her parents, Clyde and Virgie Rhodes; brothers, Clyde Jr. and wife, Charlotte, Glen and wife, Vernell and Sheryl and wife, Vail; and sisters, Ellene Rhodes, Oneta Lester and husband, Howard and Troyce Coleman and husband, Woodie.
She is survived by her husband, Paul Patrick; daughter, Laurie Finch and husband, Jim; son, David Patrick and wife, Tiffani; brother, Erby Rhodes and wife, Ruthalee; 10 grandchildren, Heather Finch, Miles Finch and wife, Avery; Holli Finch, Ashley Finch, Aaron Finch, Ryan Patrick, Mollie Patrick, Brady Patrick, Kotu Bajaj, and Kiran Bajaj Esparza; and 1 great-granddaughter, Thaeadora.
Viewing at Mercer-Adams will be Friday, November 7, from 12:00-8:00 pm with family present from 5:00-7:00 pm. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 2:00 pm in the sanctuary of Bethany First Church of the Nazarene, 6789 NW 39th Expressway, Bethany, OK.
The service will be livestreamed and may be viewed on this obituary page. To share condolences, visit www.mercer-adams.com.
