Melvern--R. Margaret Patterson, 94, passed away on Thursday, November 26, 2015 at Midland Hospice House in Topeka, Kansas with her family by her side. She was born on September 3, 1921 in Williamsburg, Kansas, the second of five children born to Jesse, Sr. and Kathryn Ryan Green.
Margaret attended Rock Creek grade school, a one-room school and Melvern High School, graduating in 1939. She taught school for three years at a one-room school near Waverly, KS. She moved to Wichita, KS in 1942 to work in the airplane industry. She married Douglas Dean in 1943, they were later divorced. She returned to Melvern in 1946 and started teaching at Melvern Grade School where she taught the combined third and fourth grades.

On December 26, 1947 Margaret married Otis Ray Patterson at Garnett, KS. She and Otis moved to the farm east of Melvern in December of 1947 where they spent 68 years together.

Margaret was one of the founding members of the Jobs Daughters Organization in Melvern, a member of the Melvern Eastern Star and the Melvern HDU. She spent her life helping Otis on the family farm. They liked to travel and had been in all the lower 48 states and Canada.

Margaret was preceded in death by her husband Otis on June 13, 2015; her parents; a grandson, John Dale, Jr.; her sister, Juliette Burnett and her husband Grover; her brother, Jesse Dale Green, Jr.; a son-in-law, Leroy Self; and a brother-in-law, Bill Jones.

Margaret is survived by her four daughters, Margaret "Peggy" (Dale) McCurdy of Melvern, Diana (James) Casten of Plano, Texas, Julia (Eldon) Martin of Topeka and Evelyn (Jefferson) McConnell of Martinsburg, West Virginia; her son, John (Janet) Patterson of Pittsburg; her two sisters, Mary Kay Jones and Phyllis (Wayne) Litch,of Melvern; her sister-in-law, Jane Green of Paola; sixteen grandchildren, forty great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren.

Funeral services for Margaret will be at 11:00 am on Tuesday, December 1 at the Melvern United Methodist Church. Burial will be in the Melvern Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:30-8:00 pm on Monday at the church in Melvern. Memorial contributions may be made to the Melvern Community Center, sent in care of Feltner Funeral Home, 818 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS. 66451.