Patricia R. “Pat” Starr, devoted homemaker and community volunteer, passed away at Hospice House Thursday, April 28, 2016. She was born Dec. 26, 1938, in Iola, and was raised there by her parents, David and Eileen (Callaway) Shannon until graduating from Iola High School in 1956. She then attended Kansas State University, graduating in 1960. This is where she met her future husband, Merle Starr of Phillipsburg. They were married June 25, 1961, moving to the Kansas City area the next year, staying until 1969, when they moved to Hutchinson. Making Hutchinson their home, Pat was a very active member of First Presbyterian Church, PEO Chapter CM and was involved with the Hutchinson Art Association.
She is survived by her husband, Merle; her twin sister, Margaret “Peggy” Kelly, Lee’s Summit, Mo., her younger sister, Martha Delacruz, Humble, Texas; her children, Blair Starr and wife Erin, Hutchinson, Deborah Calhoun and husband Kelly, Tacoma, Wash., David Starr, Hutchinson; grandchildren, Spencer and Margaret “Maggie” Starr, Hutchinson, and Mia Starr Frank of Tacoma, Wash., and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m., Friday, at the First Presbyterian Church, 201 E. Sherman, with the Rev. Mark H. Miller officiating. Cremation with private family inurnment will be in the church columbarium. Friends may sign the guest book today through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Elliott Mortuary. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Presbyterian Church or the Hutchinson Art Association, in care of Elliott Mortuary, 1219 N. Main, Hutchinson, KS, 67501.
