Visitation: 4:00 – 6:00 p.m., Friday, October 14, 2022
Location: Weymouth Funeral Home
Celebration of Life Service: 11:00 a.m., Saturday, October 15, 2022
Location: St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Hampton, Virginia
Reception: Following the Service, Church Fellowship Hall
Patricia “Pat” Henderson Jones, 82, of Newport News, VA, passed away at home on October 8, 2022, after a long battle with COPD. She was surrounded by her loving partner of 35 years, Martha Miller, and her devoted daughters, Patti Coleman and Terri Kendrick.
Pat had a big personality and an even bigger heart. If you met Pat, you never forgot her. Eager to listen and really get to know people, she made everyone she met feel special. Her ability to fight against her disease was a testament to how much Pat loved her life and more importantly, those in it. She had a particularly strong bond with her girls, Terri and Patti, and was always their biggest cheerleader.
Giving and generous with her time, Pat volunteered with the American Cancer Society for years, providing cancer patients with rides to their treatment and getting to know each and every one of them on a personal level. She was also a practical joker and the life of the party, living every day to the fullest. In fact, three days before she passed away, she was eating oysters and drinking cocktails with Martha in Leesburg.
Born in Salisbury, MD, Pat graduated from Wicomico High School in 1958. After moving to Newport News in 1968, she was hired as a secretary for Bennette Paint in Hampton. But with her outgoing, driven personality, she wasn’t satisfied with a back-office job and convinced owner, Jim Bennette, to let her try a job in sales. Despite the fact that paint manufacturing was a male-dominated industry, she quickly won over those paint contractors, just like she did everyone else. By the time she retired in 2000, she had worked her way through the ranks to become president of the company.
Pat is survived by her partner, Martha Miller; daughters and sons-in-law, Terri and Don Kendrick of Lewes, DE, and Patti and Tom Coleman of Richmond, VA; grandchildren, Katy and Aaron Coleman, and great-grandson, Beckham Coleman (called the “Crown Prince” by his GeeGee), all of Richmond; and brothers, Tom Henderson (Bobbi) and Michael Henderson (Dee Kelley) of Salisbury, MD.
She is predeceased by her sister, Nancy Lohrfink, of Laurel, DE, and parents, Margaret and Ralph Henderson of Salisbury, MD.
A Visitation will be held from 4:00-6:00 p.m., Friday, October 14, 2022 at Weymouth Funeral Home. A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11:00 a.m., Saturday, October 15, 2022 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 807 W. Mercury Blvd., Hampton, VA 23666. A reception will follow in the church fellowship hall.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (st.jude.org), an organization supported by Pat for decades.
