Patricia G. Rundquist

How does one put into words a proper description of a life well lived and Love shared for 96 years… Hoo Wee! What a ride! The things she has seen, the emotional ups and downs she has felt, days of laughter and tears. The stories she would tell, the voices of the friends and ancestors she has listened to.

Patricia G. Rundquist passed away on Monday, July 15, at her home in Lawrence, Kansas. She is survived by two sons – David of Lawrence, Kansas and Steven of Bellvue, CO. – daughter in law Trish of Bellvue, CO. and Grand daughter, Grethe of Boulder CO. Her third son, Eric, died last year and the man she married in 1949, Richard Marshall Rundquist, passed in 2001.

Patty was born in East St. Louis December 20, 1927. She was the daughter of Evan and Sue Goodrich. After college in Missouri, she and Richard moved to Lawrence. Patty was the owner of “In the Red Antiques” and had a small shop in the antiques mall in downtown Lawrence for many years. Throughout her life she always had a smile and good word for everyone except maybe those of the John Bircher persuasion. She supported diversity and inclusion and the arts, especially Native American culture and Arts. She was a long time volunteer for Head Start and Meals on Wheels programs, loved to swim, and learned to sail in her mid-life. Patricia was a true Daughter of the Prairie Pioneers, whose Grandmother lived in a sod home in Western Kansas near Goodland.

She loved her Irises and day-lilies, and could spend hours pulling weeds in the yard and gardens, completely satisfied. Her Christmas cookies and New Years Eve smorgasbords were legendary. Swedish meatballs, potato sausage, red cabbage and Swedish treats were some of her offerings to the Swedish family traditions. She will be forever remembered with a smile on her face and laughter in her voice.

A private family memorial service with interment of remains at Pioneer Cemetery in Lawrence will be will be held at a later date.

Let Me Die on the Prairie
BY FRANCES JANE CROSBY VAN ALSTYNE

Let me die on the prairie! and o’er my rude grave,
In the soft breeze of summer the tall grass shall wave;
I would breathe my last sigh as the bright hues of even
Are melting away in the blue arch of Heaven.

Let me die on the prairie! unwept and unknown,
I would pass from this fair Earth forgotten, alone;—
Yet no! – there are hearts I have learned to revere,
And methinks there is bliss in affection’s warm tear.

Oh, speak not to me of the green cypress shade;
I would sleep where the bones of the Indian are laid,
And the deer will bound o’er me with step light and free,
And the carol of birds will my requiem be.

Let me die on the prairie! I have wished for it long;
There floats in wild numbers the bold hunter’s song;
’Tis the spot of all others the dearest to me,
And how sweet in its bosom my slumber will be!