Obituary for Patricia A. Ortmayer

Patricia Ann Ortmayer, 73, of Cedar Rapids died Saturday February 26, 2005 at St Lukes Hospital. A Celebration of Life Service and Honoring Fifty Years of Marriage will be held on Saturday April 2, 2005. Time and location to be announced at a later date. Survivors include her husband of fifty years, William, and four daughters; Sara (Tom) Patterson of Vinton, Beth (Rich) Ender of Vinton, Martha (Gary) Schuler of Carson, Julie DeBruyn and fiance Scott Cline of Omaha, NE, a brother, Robert Mason of Burlington and a sister Nancy Hummell of Cedar Rapids. Patricia had ten grandchildren; Melissa, Aaron, Jessica, Clayton, Nicholas (Janna), Amanda, Lindsey, Melanie, Jaime, and Erika. Patricia was born on March 23, 1931 in Mt. Pleasant, IA to Roy and Genevieve Mason and grew up in Winfield, IA. She attended Iowa State Teachers College and obtained her teaching degree. She taught kindergarten in Montana and several towns in Iowa. She met her future husband, William, while teaching in Charles City, IA. She married William Ortmayer on April 9, 1955 in Winfield, IA. She elected to stay at home to raise her four daughters and later taught preschool. She later established a child care business in their home and for the next twenty years she and her husband cared for and nutured a great many children. It was a joy watching these children grow. Her greatest joy was her family and raising her four daughters and loving her husband. As time went on, she focused much of her attention on her grandchildren and was very proud of each of them. Patricia and William felt blessed for having some very close friends who were considered "family" and our thanks and love go out to them. Patricia was very caring and touched the lives of many people. She never liked to talk of her own physical problems and for many years she quietly suffered through all the major complications of diabetes and kidney failure. Words cannot express our feelings and thanks to all who cared for her. Our special thanks go to St. Lukes ICU Nurses who cared for her those last days. Doctors Pruchno, Voights, and Beckett cared for her over the past several years and she always felt that they were "pretty neat people" as did the rest of her family. We express our heartfelt thanks. Patricia had a passion for cooking and reading cookbooks. She was a very artistic person and liked antiques. She always said "that is going to worth something someday". She was also proud of her Norwegian heritage. Memorials may be sent to the American Diabetes Foundation or The American Kidney Foundation. Arrangements by The Cremation Society of Eastern Iowa.