Patricia Schneller
Patricia Ann Schneller was born July 18, 1941, to Davis and Daisy (Thomas) Patterson in Hastings, Nebraska. She died at Collinwood Assisted Living in Fort Collins on Jan. 8, 2022, surrounded by three of her boys, after a brave fight with dementia.
Patricia loved to sing and play with her brother, Johnny. She was active in a Lutheran church growing up in Hastings, where she sang in the church choir, which became a lifelong hobby.
She met her husband, Keith R. Schneller from Sutton, Nebraska, during her senior year of high school. They made a wonderful pair and were married in 1959. Keith R. and his brother took over their father’s land leveling business soon after they were married, so they set up home in a small trailer house in Sutton where they started their family business.
The family had to move from job to job, which took them from eastern Nebraska across the plains, where they eventually settled in Holyoke in the late ’60s and started farming. Little Keith was born in Hastings, Nebraska, in 1961, Mark was born in McCook, Nebraska, in 1963, Bryan was born in Lamar in 1966, and Matthew was born in Holyoke in 1977.
Patricia took on the responsibility of managing a household of four little boys for many years. Keith and Pat made a great team and made sure their kids made it to Mount Zion Lutheran Church every Sunday while they were growing up. Patricia became a loyal choir member with her beautiful soprano voice at the church in Holyoke.
After many years of successful farming, Keith and Pat lost their farm in 1985 and were divorced. Patricia had run a small travel agency on the side while Keith was farming and moved to Alaska to work at a Princess Cruise Lines Lodge on the Kenai Peninsula. This is where she ran into Joe Paloucek, who was a widower from Holyoke who also loved traveling to Alaska every year for fishing trips.
Patricia and Joe were married in 2003. Pat and Joe enjoyed many wonderful years of fishing in Alaska, cruising around the globe and enjoying the sunshine at their home in Phoenix, Arizona.
Patrcia was a very sweet person with a passion for traveling and helping others. She will be sorely missed.
She is survived by her mother, Daisy of Hastings; her four children, Keith and Julie of Fargo, North Dakota, Mark and Mary Ann of Castle Rock, Bryan and Deb of Fort Collins, and Matthew and Tini of Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania; nine grandchildren, Benjamin, Anna, Emily and Tony, Jake, Keighton, Taylor, Qaddie, Qaizar and Aislynn; one great-grandchild, Elle; and many nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.
Patricia was preceded in death by her father, Davis; brother, Johnny; and husbands, Keith and Joe.
At her request, there will be no funeral or memorial service. Instead, she asked that her ashes be scattered in Alaska, the Rocky Mountains or Cozumel — three of her favorite places on this earth.
Please visit goesfuneralcare.com to share photos, memories and condolences with her family.
Goes Funeral Home in Fort Collins has been entrusted with the arrangements.