Patricia Joyce Hobson Law

Patricia Joyce Hobson Law, age 69, passed away November 14, 2011 of congestive heart failure at Delmar Gardens of Lenexa.

Patricia was born in Salina, Kansas, to Wyman Arnett Hobson and Virginia Lucile Willis Hobson and graduated from Salina Central High School in 1960. She attended the University of Kansas — where she met her husband, Elmo Adrian Law — and graduated with a bachelor’s of science in nursing in 1964. She worked as a medical-surgical nurse at the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, as an office nurse for a physicians’ practice at Country Club Plaza and as medical-surgical instructor at St. Luke’s Hospital School of Nursing in Kansas City. She retired from nursing due to a back injury and became a circulation librarian at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park.

Patricia spent a lifetime taking care of others, including her patients and her family, but struggled with chronic health problems of her own — including Menetriere’s disease of the stomach, depression and diabetes — as a result of her childhood bout with polio. In her later years, Elmo cared for her physically while she provided emotional support for him. In tribute, he wrote:

“A lifetime of companionship,

romance and tremendous support.

She called me her rock,

I called her my light,

Together we built a lighthouse!”

Patricia loved to explore new things, and threw herself wholeheartedly into activities and crafts, from cooking to doll collecting to sewing to scrapbooking. Even as her energy waned, she jumped into a new world of popular culture, gaining interest in television shows and quizzing family about celebrities she’d never heard of before.

When her struggles were great, she found joys in simple pleasures: having her hair washed, snuggling with her toy poodle, being read to, or watching her grandson draw beside her.

Along with her husband and son, Randall David Law, Patricia is survived by her daughter-in-law Hannah Wolfson and adored grandson Alexander Ward Law. Other surviving family members include: her niece, Kimberly Hobson Piira of Seattle, Washington, and her family; her cousin, Steve Sankey and his wife Karen of Niwot, Colorado; her aunt, Vesta Sankey of Ames, Iowa; her uncle, Larry Hobson and his wife Patsy of Scandia, Kansas; and longtime friends Leyden Pauli of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Judy Peterson Driscoll of Russell, Kansas. She was predeceased by her parents, her brother, David Wyman Hobson, and her sister-in-law, Sylvia Lloyd.

Special thanks goes to the staff at Delmar Gardens and the hospice staff of Vitas, who made her comfortable in her final days.

A memorial service will be held 1 p.m. Saturday, November 19, 2011, at Amos Family Chapel of Shawnee.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to March of Dimes’ post-polio efforts at 4400 College Boulevard, #180, Overland Park, Kansas, 66211 and include Patricia’s name on the check.