Patricia A. Basden

Patricia Anne Boss Basden passed away in Abilene on March 5, 2011. The family will receive friends from 6:00 to 8:00 pm on Monday, March 7, 2011 at The Hamil Family Funeral Home, 6449 Buffalo Gap Road. Graveside services will be at 10:00 am on Tuesday at the Hamby Cemetery. Pat was born in Ben Franklin, Texas on April 24, 1935. She was raised on a cotton farm in nearby Pecan Gap, and graduated in 1951 from Pecan Gap High School, salutatorian of her graduating class at age 16. Later that same year, she became pen pals with Henry Eugene Basden, whom she married four years later. Pat and Gene made their home in Dallas-Fort Worth, but soon left there to begin their work for the Lord, ministering in Washington, Colorado, and Texas. In 1983, they moved to Abilene, and both were employed at Abilene Christian University. They built a house together just outside of Abilene, and lived there together until Gene's death in 2001. Pat moved to the Arbors at Rose Park in Abilene in 2008, where she lived until her death. Pat loved learning, reading, cooking, and talking about the world around her, as well as playing word games with her friends and grandchildren on her iPad. She is survived and will be loved and remembered by two daughters: Deborah Preston of Abilene and Elizabeth Basden of Frisco, Texas and their husbands, Mark Preston and Oliver Dixon; and four grandchildren: Tracye Warren of Dallas, Matt Preston of Abilene, Stormy Swindell of Abilene, and James Swindell of Abilene. She will be greatly missed by her family and the numerous friends and loved ones she met during a life lived well and with love. Memorials may be made to Meals on Wheels , P.O. Box 903, Abilene, TX 79604; or Hendrick Hospice Care, P.O. Box 1922, Abilene, TX 79604.