Note: If you have information, photos or memories that you would like to contribute to this memorial, please contact Garland Holt. Following is a story that I, Garland Holt wrote about Patti:

The Story of Patti Inez Atkisson
By Garland L. Holt Jr.

This is the story of my mother’s mother as told the best I can. There are others who know her better, yet it is time for me to do this.

Patti was born on November 4, 1899 in Enid OK. Enid was then part of Indian lands, and I have not been able to locate a record of her birth. The family story is that at the time her father was posted to Enid working for the Railroad.

Her father was Milton (also often spelled as Minton) S. Atkisson and mother was Lily Mae Robinson. There is a large public tree on the Atkisson family, but yet little data is known about Lily Mae.

Although born in Enid, the family moved back to Omaha NE as she appears in the 1910 census there. She also had a number of siblings.

She married Richard Randall Brady, also of Omaha on April 23, 1921. Richard later became a medical doctor.

Her first child, Patricia Ann Brady (my mother) was born on February 9, 1922 in Omaha. Sometime between 1922 and the 1926 birth of her son John, she, Richard and Patricia moved from Omaha to Livingston MT. There her son, John Richard Brady, was born on January 30, 1926. His last child, a girl (who is still living) was born after the 1930 census.

Livingston was and is still a small town. I understand that Richard was one of the few doctors in town. But the Depression was hard on all people, even doctors. It is my understanding that Richard fell in love with his nurse and a divorce resulted. John R and the younger girl remained with Patti but the oldest girl, Patricia, would live with Richard and his new wife. Patti married a man by the name of Charles D. Edgington about 1940 and had child Charles D. Edgington Jr. (about 1944-1962). Charles Sr died due to becoming trapped in a freezer at work. Charles Jr was Child adopted my her family, name changed to Charles D. Atkisson. Charles Jr was killed in 1962 when he was an young adult leaving a wife and maybe a child. Some years later, Patti remarried a man named Al Holmgren and that is the surname she went by until she died. Al died some years before her. There were no children of this last marriage.

In time, before her marriage to Al, Patti moved to Helena Montana and went to work as an auditor for the State Liquor Control Board. She retired, but I do not have the date.

Somewhat after her retirement she suffered a stroke and had to be placed in the Cooney Convalescent home. I have been told by my mother than she wasn’t really “here” meaning, I think, she was unable to speak, talk or understand. She died related to the stroke and Pneumonia on March 4, 1983 and was buried at the Resurrection Cemetery on March 8, 1983 in Helena. At least once, I sent her roses for her birthday as roses were her best flowers, but was told my mother that she did not know what they were and it was a waste of my money. Still, I am glad I sent them.

There is a family story about what Patti called her “Rose Lady”. When something important was about to happen, Patti would smell roses. This has happened to me a few times too.

Her and Richard's only son, John, joined the USMC and fought in Iwo Jima and was badly hurt. He was never the same. Richard got John a job as a guard in Germany. John was killed as a result of gun play there on June 13, 1948. After some years, due to the help of his younger sister and friends, burial was in Livingston Montana.

When my father, mother, I and siblings moved to Montana in 1961, we camped out at Patti apartment for a few days before moving on to Lewistown.

In September 1962, I was accepted to Carroll College there in Helena. Although I lived in off campus dorms, I would visit Patti at her apartment about once a week. She and I would talk much. Later, when my family was unable to pay the college bills, I think Patti paid it, without my knowledge.

I still miss those talks.

The following was written by my sister Karen.
As told by Karen Christine Holt Sherrill
Her Granddaughter
Sept 2009

"I have very fond memories of my grandmother, playing dress up and tea parties with her. She was so interesting and fun. She used to take me to the local ice cream parlor in Helena, MT and buy us both wonderful sundaes and banana splits! She also taught me how to embroider and I am the keeper of many of her pillow cases, doilies, dresser scarves and table cloths. She used to tell me about her brother Arthur who lived in Portland. When I was in high school and came to Portland with some girlfriends to see The Beatles, I called Arthur per my grandmother's request and talked to him. He invited me over to meet his family but, alas, I was a young girl interested in much different things than that. I now wish I had gone over to meet him.

Near my 13th birthday my father dropped me off at grandmother’s apartment while he ran some errands. We had tea together, wearing hats, shawls, white gloves and jewelry. I think she had more than just tea in her cup as it smelled strangely to a little girl! She gave me a check for my birthday present and it was for $50! She didn’t want me to tell any of the other kids that she gave me that much as I was her very favorite grandchild. We were pretty poor in my family but that money bought me some nice new clothes and for the first time, I wasn’t wearing thrift store clothes to school!

Every Christmas, Grandmother put up her aluminum tree in her apt. It had a light that sat on the floor and spotted on to the tree and the light had a revolving disk with the colors of red, blue, gold and green. When the light shone through the disk, the tree turned that color. She was always so proud and amazed at that and every time we would go over there during the Christmas season, she would point out this wonderful thing and how great it was!

When I was 19, I moved into my first apt there in Helena. Grandma called me and asked me to come over as she had some things I could use. When I got there, she had her china set I always admired as it was so pretty, sitting on the couch for me to take. I was shocked that she was giving this to me! She also had lots of towels, linens, sheets, dresser scarves, table cloths and two chairs. I still have all these items today. Some years later, my aunt Beverly gave me a dressing table that was Grandma’s. This was after Patti was in the nursing home. It was the one I remembers so well when I used to visit Grandma and it always had all her jewelry in the drawers and stacked in boxes on top. It always smelled of lavender and it still seem to today. Lavender is one of my very favorite scents and I grow lots of it now, and then dry it for others to enjoy.

When my family lived in California, one summer my mother, I and my little sister rode the train up to Helena to visit Grandma for a few months. I remember the train trip as very exciting but long. One of the days we were at her apartment and she was out doing some errands, my mother was cooking in the kitchen and somehow, the kitchen curtains caught fire! Mom managed to put the fire out but we were worried sick that Grandma would notice the curtains burned up! She always thought my Mom was not a good cook and I think this event made my Mom feel she would again be criticized for her lack of talent. So we rushed out to Woolworth’s downtown to find curtains as close as we could to what burned up. Woolworths was really the only place in Helena at that time to get such things and it was also within walking distance as we didn’t have a car. Mom bought curtains that looked somewhat like the old ones and we rushed back to the apt. to put them up. We were horrified that they didn’t really look at all much like the old ones and prayed Grandma would not notice. Now I realize that she must have noticed but didn’t say a thing. My Mother was so relieved and really believed Grandma didn’t notice.

Grandma came from the times when women ironed everything, even underwear! She taught me how to iron sheets and pillow cases, with lots of starch and steam. After the clothes were washed and dried, she would sprinkle the items with water from a plastic sprinkler shaker; roll the items up in a roll which she piled on to the couch. Then with the ironing board on and the iron hot, she would unroll the items one at a time and iron them until they were smooth and crisp. She taught me to follow very strict procedures on how to iron. I also remember when we did the tablecloths; they had to be sprayed with a lot of spray starch while ironing them. I never could quite get the hand of spraying the starch, ironing, folding the cloth just right so that when it was unfolded to be put on the table, the creases were nice and sharp with no other wrinkles! All this instruction helped me in later years when I took in ironing to earn money and the rich ladies were always impressed by the nicely ironed linens! I also ironed men’s shirts (10 cents) and pants (25 cents) which were made of the toughest old khaki! I still have calluses on my hands from all that ironing!

One year for her birthday, we were going to have a big family sit down dinner at our house for her, with all the family, cake, etc. When the time came for Mom to go pick her up, Grandma was not at her house! She looked all over town for Grandma but didn’t find her. It turned out that Grandma didn’t want a big party so she just took off walking to a park and spent the day reading and feeding the birds!

In the old days, Sunday dinner was a big event. All the family had to sit down at the table and a huge meal of roast, potatoes, gravy, cooked vegetables, rolls, etc. was served. My brother and I used to dread these dinners as it was always pot roast. It seems strange that we didn’t look forward to the pot roast as we didn’t really have a lot of money for food. But every Sunday, it just began to get boring! My Grandmother had lived through the depression so the chance to have this wonderful pot roast with all the other fixings was something she was proud to be able to serve our family. It was a very special treat showing we had enough money to eat well!
In 1970 I was engaged to a man I met at the Univ of Mt, in Missoula Mt. Grandma started to embroider a huge table cloth for me for my hope chest. Our engagement was then cancelled and the table cloth was never finished. Whatever happened to the table cloth (which I did not know she was making) is a mystery. After she died, my mother was able to get the table cloth and put it away. When I got engaged to be married to Dave in 1976, my Mother got the table cloth out and finished the embroidery then presented it to me to be put under the wedding cake. I was so moved! I still have that table cloth and it was put on the table under my son’s cake when he married. Someday, it will move on to the next generation. But one can feel the love that was put into the cloth by two dynamic and loving women of a generation that is now almost gone.

After my Grandmother and her husband Al had to move from the wonderful old apartment building they lived in near main street to a small house to far from downtown to walk, my Grandmother seemed very sad and lonely. I tried to visit her at least once or twice a week, after school or after work. She said many times how proud and amazed she was that I was a shoe store manager, saying that I was always so shy growing up. This was also about the time I noticed the decline in her thinking and in her health. She was always so clean and smelled so nice of lavender that when I noticed she started to smell bad, I was shocked. I told my Mother who checked with Grandma to see what was wrong and was horrified to learn that Grandmother was afraid or forgetful about bathing and her underwear was in tatters. It broke my Mother’s heart to finally put Grandma in a care home and discuss the medication needs that she thought should be phased out as Grandma was having multiple strokes and just wanted to die. I have a cassette tape letter that she recorded to send to my brother in which she cried and cried about making that decision. She just didn’t know at the time that someday the same decision had to be made about her…by myself."