On June 30, 2026, Patricia Ann Klase left Nottingham Village in Northumberland and headed straight into the heaven she always knew was there. Born on December 20, 1937 in Tremont, Pennsylvania, Patricia—known by most as ‘Pat’—was delivered into the world by her uncle, a country doctor, and placed into a wicker laundry basket until her mother could carry her home.

As a child in Northumberland County, Pat enjoyed spending time on her grandfather’s farm where she helped gather the hens’ eggs and waved to the conductor each time the twice-daily train rolled past. She similarly loved visits to her Aunt Mamie, a seamstress, in whose house she often recalled standing on a floor grate just to feel the heat billowing up from the coal furnace in the basement below.

The only child of her father’s second marriage, Pat inherited two adored older half-siblings as well as her parents’ Christian faith and self-reliance. Pat’s life was well grounded in her father’s experiences as night shift telegrapher for the Pennsylvania Railroad and the energy he poured into planting his abundant garden, building furniture, serving as Democratic City Commissioner of Sunbury, faithfully attending Catawissa Avenue Methodist Church, and teaching Pat, as a teenager, to change the oil in her own car in an era when most regarded vehicle maintenance as falling firmly within the male domain.

Following her father’s example, Pat wove industry and devotion into her own life. After her 1955 graduation from Sunbury High School, Pat enrolled in Susquehanna University’s medical secretarial course, supporting herself by working at her half-sister and brother-in-law’s grocery store in New Berlin. After graduating, she secured 43 years of employment at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville where her fingers diligently herded the typewritten letters that allowed her to earn her living first as a medical transcriptionist and later as administrative secretary in the Department of Facilities Administration.

She was a lifelong member of Catawissa Methodist Church in Sunbury where she sang in the choir, taught Sunday School, delivered an occasional sermon, and was Secretary of the Board of Trustees. A fervent Democrat and an avid believer in the sustaining power of prayer, she was fiercely proud of her nephew Frank when he became a Lutheran pastor in Chicago and of her nephew John when elected a Pennsylvania State Representative as a Democrat.

Over the decades, Pat’s hands held election ballots; tickets to Paris and Jerusalem; bowling balls and tennis rackets; the leashes of her beloved dogs Billy, Trixie, Snickers, and Jemmie; the recipes for the best Jello salads; the well-worn covers of a constant stream of books; the meals she delivered to housebound town residents; and the small hand of her well-loved grand-nephew, Michael, after he was adopted and brought home from Peru.

Pat loved to socialize and had a crescendoing laugh that could locate her faster than Google Maps. In the days of her driving, her license plate read CPATGO. When the driving was done, Pat could still be found wheeling herself around the campus of Nottingham Village, where she revelled in the company of fellow residents and staff.

It won’t surprise anyone familiar with Pat’s shopping passion that she spent one of her final afternoons traveling the clothing section at Boscov’s.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents, Frank and Carrie Klase; her sister, Jean Klase Showers and Jean’s husband, Harlan; and her brother, Bob Klase. She is survived by the family she loved so well: nephew Frank Showers, nephew John Showers and wife Nancy and their children—Scott, Ross, Elizabeth, and Michael—the grandkids Pat never had;

and her cousins Wanda, Marilyn, Becky, David, Alan, and Alan’s wife, Hazel.

The funeral service is scheduled for 1:00 PM on Thursday, July 9, 2026 at Catawissa Avenue Methodist Church, 319 Catawissa Avenue, Sunbury, PA. Visitation with closed casket begins at 12 noon. Pastor Meghan Millard will officiate.

Contributions in Pat’s memory may be made to Catawissa Avenue Methodist Church in Sunbury.

Arrangements are by the Blank Funeral Home, 395 State Street, Sunbury.