Mrs. Patsy McGee

Patsy Ruth (Pat) McGee was born January 20, 1935 in South Sulphur, Texas to Thelma and Wade McWhirter. She was delivered, as she liked to tell her daughters, by Dr. J.C. Cheatham who rode a horse in a blizzard to their farmhouse.

In the early hours of May 21, 2026, Pat McGee died peacefully in her bed at home in Reno, Nevada. She had been living in a comfortable senior community for ten years, having moved there after the death of her husband of 60 years, Billy Reid (Bill) McGee, who died in 2014 when they were living in Allen, Texas.

During the Reno years, Pat relished being near her youngest daughter Diane McCormick and Diane’s husband Tracey McCormick. She delighted in spending time with grandchildren and great-grands who lived just on the other side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California and beyond, passing down songs her own mother had taught her, reading stories aloud and proud that she could sit on the floor to play with them, even in her final years.

Pat McGee was an avid bible study group member and lifelong Methodist church member. She was a talented seamstress for her family, excellent bridge player and enthusiastic Girl Scout leader. She loved to water ski, go out with friends, spend summers on her family’s cotton and cattle ranch in Wolfe City, Texas and spoil a long line of curmudgeonly cats. Pat hosted countless dinner parties and lavish family gatherings. She disassembled and reassembled the McGee family home for dozens of moves centered on Air Force Bases where Bill was stationed across the continental United States and as far off as Hawaii. When Bill and Pat settled finally in Allen, Texas, Pat accrued thousands of hours of volunteer work at a hospital in nearby McKinney, and played Bunko with the same group of women for decades.

A prolific writer of memoir and poetry, Pat McGee was also an artist who painted in oil on canvas, capturing landscapes such as the fields of bluebonnets she pined for, many decades after leaving her childhood home in East Texas. Pat loved sharing memories of her early life, and talked fondly about the one-room school she attended through grade six. Eventually, she and her classmates — a small group of women she stayed close to for the rest of her long life — were bussed into town to Commerce High School, where Pat took part in a program that enrolled her in what was then called East Texas State Teacher’s College. She completed one and a half years of college while finishing high school and lived in a boarding house with a few other girls in Commerce, to be able to do so. In 1953, Patsy Ruth McWhirter married Billy Reid McGee in 1953 who was just finishing pilot school. They moved to Dover, Delaware where their three daughters were born.

Along with youngest daughter Diane McCormick and son-in-law Tracey McCormick of Reno, Pat is survived by her oldest daughter Lynn McGee of Binghamton, New York. Pat McGee was pre-deceased by her middle daughter Pamela Ann Davis (née McGee). She was also predeceased by Pam’s special needs son Patrick Colin Davis, who was blessed to have Pat and Bill as his devoted guardians and who died himself in 2019 when Pat was 84 years old, still deeply involved in his care.

Pat McGee leaves behind a legion of grandchildren, step-grands and greats: William Reid Davis (Gresham, OR; wife Ellie Davis and son Connor); Spencer Davis (Seattle, WA; partner Devon Breithart); Laura Davis (Portland, OR; son Alasdair); DJ Allison (Petaluma, CA; wife Julie Allison; daughters Willow and Bryce); Jennifer Teng née Allison (San Rafael, CA; husband Kevin Teng; daughter Reya and son Teo); Daniel McCormick (Farnham, UK; partner Liria Dal Molin, son Benjamin and daughter Maya); Christopher McCormick (Columbus, OH); cherished companion Neil (Archable) Sanders (Reno, NV); and beloved feline companion Lexi, who was adopted, as promised, by Pat’s grandson Spencer and his partner Devon.

Pat’s final resting place will be Mount Carmel Cemetery in Wolfe City, Texas, next to her husband Bill and many generations of family who predeceased her, including her parents Thelma and Wade McWhirter and her grandparents Bessie Mae and Robert Lee McKay — not to mention countless aunts, uncles, cousins and other members of the close-knit, Hunt County farming community where she grew up.

Pat McGee was an independent, outgoing person who was known in her senior community as someone who invited new members of the community to her table in the dining room and initiated informal weekly gatherings. Medical notes from the end of her life fittingly record that, “The patient directed her own care, right up to the end.” Pat McGee lived with a strong sense of direction, as well as much love for her family and friends, who will feel her absence always.

Family and friends are welcome to attend services for Pat McGee on Wednesday August 26, 2026 at First Methodist Church, 206 N. Main Street, Leonard, Texas, 75452. Visitation with family begins at 10 a.m., followed by the memorial service at 11 a.m. Burial at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Wolfe City will immediately follow.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made in the name of Patsy R. McGee to any of the following: First Methodist Church in Leonard, Texas, (903) 587-3463; Wesley Chapel Cemetery Association of Wolfe City, TX, 2634 County Road 4600, Wolfe City, TX 75496; Mount Carmel Cemetery Association of Wolfe City, TX, P.O. Box 9, Wolfe City, Texas, 75496; and Pike Cemetery Association of Pike, TX, P.O. Box 927, Leonard, TX 75452.