Patricia Irene Spychalski

Patricia Irene Spychalski, of Copley and formerly of Bay City, Michigan, passed away peacefully on March 13, 2022 after a long battle with dementia.

Pat was born on March 17, 1936 in Toledo, Ohio to the late Leo and Irene Blake. The family moved to Bay City a few years later, where they became life-long residents. On June 9, 1962 she married Joseph Spychalski. Pat and Joe loved Bay City; however, in 2016 it became necessary for them to relocate to Akron, Ohio near their daughter. Pat was preceded in death by her parents and her daughter, Diane Spychalski. She is survived by her loving husband Joseph Spychalski, daughter Sandra (Brian) Basler all of Copley; sons Daniel Spychalski of Bay City MI and Peter (Eun) Spychalski of Warwick NY; her brother William Blake of Madison Heights MI; and her sister-in-law Elaine Gottlieber (Spychalski) of Bay City MI. Joe and Pat (or “Patsy”, as she was affectionately known by her husband) grew up together, just one house apart. Pat and Elaine did the girlfriend stuff - listening to all the popular tunes on the front porch in the summer, roller skating, and going to the movies. There were rumors of snowball fights, with Pat vowing revenge on Joey (Joe) and her brother Bill.

At Elaine’s wedding reception, Patsy offered to teach Joey to slow dance. Friendship turned to love and they were married. Pat and Joe became deeply interested in what the Bible really teaches compared to commonly held beliefs, so they started to study the Bible with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Together they learned that the Bible answered the most important questions in life. This knowledge helped them endure the death of their daughter, to raise their other children with sound moral values, and how to be truly happy.

They were both baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1967 and continued to make their relationship with their God Jehovah (Psalm 83:18) the first thing in their lives. This provided them with the tools needed to give their children a warm and happy upbringing. Bible meetings, assemblies and conventions with her husband and children were an integral part of Pat’s life. She was an avid student of the Bible, reading it daily until she could no longer make sense of the words. But those words were in her heart. Through good and not so good times, the focus was on love - love of God and family and neighbor. Pat enjoyed sharing with others the Bible’s message and did so until she could no longer speak. She had the privilege of studying the Bible with her sister-in-law Elaine and experience the joy of seeing Elaine dedicate her life to do God’s will.  Pat loved being a mom, spending lots of time with her children reading to them, playing board and card games, and going on bike rides. She loved watching musicals, classic movies and I Love Lucy with her daughter. Pat and Joe enjoyed watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune in the evening and listening to music together. Pat enjoyed all types of music, classical, pop, rock-n-roll and many more genres. She would play the radio all day long and could whistle beautifully to almost any tune. She loved to sing and even tried her hand at playing the organ.

When she had moments of clarity, she would mention Jehovah and her love for the brothers and sisters in her congregation. Pat loved her friends dearly. She would go on walks with Connie and concerts in the park too, along with Josephine, Betty and more. Pat and Joe often went to lunch after the Sunday Bible meeting with Roberta, Betty, Sally and others. Many happy days in the door-to-door ministry with those friends as well as Linda, Maryanne, Diane, Donna and Becky to name just a few. She loved her daughter’s closest friends Darla and Vicki, often viewing them her as “kids”. Then there’s the laugh. Pat had a very unique laugh, loud and contagious! It brought joy and a smile to everyone’s face. Pat’s faith in the Bible’s promises was unshakable. She firmly believed in all of the wonderful things our loving Heavenly Father has in store for the future. That promise from God is soon to be fulfilled. The earth will be restored to a beautiful paradise (Psalm 37:11, 29) and the dead will be brought back to life in full health (John 5:28, 29). Of course, all of this has been made possible by our loving God by means of the ransom sacrifice of his dear son Jesus. We look forward to that time. (Please see www.jw.org for further information).

A virtual memorial service will be held on March 26th at 3:00pm.

ZOOM
Join Meeting ID 158 184 651
Meeting Pass Code 109026

For those without internet access please use the following:

+1 301 715 8592 US

+1 312 626 6799 US

+1 646 558 8656 US

Virtual room will open at 2:30pm

The actual service will begin at 3:00pm

A slideshow will be shown shortly before and will be shown following the service.

Services in care of The Billow Funeral Homes and Crematory, Fairlawn Chapel, 85 N Miller Road  Akron, OH  44333.