Funeral services for Patricia E. Grant will be held at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 4, at Ertel Memorial Chapel. Interment will follow at Cortez Cemetery.
Pat was born to William and Ethel Grant on March 12, 1921. She was one of the most extraordinary women you will ever meet. She dominated women’s golf in Oklahoma during the 1930s and 1940s. Pat served her country for 22 years in the U.S. Army. After the Army, Pat practiced law for 30 years in San Antonio. She was first noticed when she won the Oklahoma State High School Golf Championship as a 13-year-old freshman at Cushing High School and went on to win three more times. Pat graduated from OBU in 1942, and was the first woman to be inducted into the OBU Athletic Hall of Fame.
Pat won the Oklahoma Women’s State Amateur Championship in 1939, at the age of 18. She became the only person in Oklahoma history to win the state championship five years in a row. That record still stands today.
When World War II broke out, Pat put aside her golf so she could serve her country. She enlisted in 1942 and went into the Women’s Army Corp. and was commissioned as a lieutenant in April 1943. While in the military, she held many assignments all over the world, including assisting the chief legal counsel during the Nuremberg Trials. Pat also served as the personal escort to Eleanor Roosevelt when the former first lady toured Germany in 1948.
Pat received 23 letters of commendation while in the Army. In 1965, after 22 years of active duty, she retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Pat was named Woman of the Year by the Texas Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs in 1972.
Retirement came, for good, in 1995 and Pat moved to Cortez in 1999.
She was inducted into the Women’s Oklahoma Golf Hall of Fame in April 2010.
Pat passed away Nov. 26, 2013, in her home, surrounded by love. “It has been a good trip,” she often said. “God has chosen a life of adventure for me. I wouldn’t trade it.”
She loved her God, her friends, her cats and her family. Pat is survived by numerous family members and many beloved friends. She will be missed by many.
The family wishes to express heartfelt thanks for all of those who gave of their hearts, time and labor to walk Pat Home. We will never repay your kindness.
In place of flowers, the family requests that you make a donation to the charities of your choice in her name or the animal shelter in Cortez.
Services are under the direction of Ertel Funeral Home. For further information or to send condolences, log on to www.ertelfuneralhome.com and click on the obituary section.
