Patricia Townley Lupfer, 96, died peacefully Aug. 8, 2017, at the Bristol Glen Healthcare Facility, surrounded by her family. Born on Dec. 20, 1920, in Limavady, Northern Ireland, she was the daughter of the Reverend Doctor David and Mabel (Broberg) Townley and was the older sister of Roberta.
She graduated from Abilene (Kansas) High School in 1939 and was the valedictorian of her class. That summer she was one of five Golden Eaglet Girl Scouts in the United States to receive the Juliette Low Memorial Award, the highest attainable honor in the Girl Scouts organization. They represented the U.S. at a three-week-long International Youth Conference in Adelboden, Switzerland. Traveling to Europe at that time, she witnessed France and Great Britain preparing for war. Returning to the U.S. on the RMS Aquitania at the end of August 1939, blackout conditions and radio silence were required.
She graduated in 1943 from Kansas State College (now Kansas State University) with a bachelor’s degree in home economics. She was the president of the Pi Beta Phi sorority and was a member of the Mortar Board honor society. While in college, she met her future husband, David Lupfer (1922-2017). While he served in the Navy during World War II, she worked as a teacher and social worker in Kansas.
In 1946 Patricia and David were married by her father in the First Presbyterian Church of Abilene, KS. Her father also baptized all four of her sons, which was a source of joyful pride for her.
Patricia and David raised their family in Manhattan, KS; Schenectady and Syracuse; Metuchen, NJ; and Cazenovia. Throughout that time, she was active in their local churches, PEO, Pi Beta Phi and Garden Club. In Metuchen, she taught pre-school at the United Methodist Church. Patricia and David enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, Europe and Australia. For their 50th anniversary, they traveled to the UK on the Queen Elizabeth II and returned on the Concorde, a trip they savored for the rest of their lives.
In retirement, they moved to Southern Pines, NC, where they enjoyed the company of her niece, Judy, and her husband, Joe. In 2010 they moved to a retirement community in Newton, NJ, to be closer to immediate family. Their love of travel continued throughout this time and they relished frequent visits with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Throughout her life, she was devoted to her family. She loved gardening, and she would be the first to say you can’t raise four boys without patience and a good sense of humor. She and her husband enjoyed entertaining friends, attending plays and musicals and cheering on their favorite sports teams. She was a woman of unshakeable faith and her example provided strength and inspiration to many others throughout her long life. She and David enjoyed a strong and loving marriage of over 70 years and she truly missed him after his death in January.
She is survived by her sister, Roberta Jakowatz; her four sons and their wives and children – Daniel and Elizabeth of Norfolk, MA (David, Matthew, Christopher), Timothy and Pamela of Yorktown Heights, N.Y., (Jennifer, Eric), Peter and Claudia of Andover Township, NJ (Amy), and Thomas and Margaret of San Diego, CA, (John, Erin, Julie); and nine great-grandchildren. She enjoyed a close relationship with her extended family of a sister-in-law, her three nieces and her two nephews.
The family would like to thank the residents and staff of the United Methodist Communities at Bristol Glen, the hospice services of Compassionate Care, and her minister, the Reverend Michael Nelms of the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church, for their care and compassion.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church, 1 Yellow Frame Road, Newton, NJ, 07860. The family will receive friends beginning at 10:30 a.m., and the memorial service will commence at 11 a.m., to be followed by a repast in the fellowship hall. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Yellow Frame Presbyterian Church or to the Girl Scouts of America (GSUSA Fundraising, P.O. Box 5046, New York, NY 10087 or girlscouts.org/en/adults/dontae.html.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Smith-McCracken Funeral Home, 63 High Street, Newton. Online condolences may be offered at smithmccrackenfuneralhome.com.