Nipa "Pat" Thomasson

Late Thursday morning, July 17, 2025 Pat slipped away to her eternal home with Jesus after losing her battle with Alzheimer's these last several months. She began using a cane more than a year ago and began needing a walker over the winter. She lost her ability to walk and then stand in June and entered hospice on June 24th. She was 86 years old. Nipa, or Pat as she was known to everyone, arrived in the United States in 1972 after meeting her future husband, Jim, at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base in 1971. She and Jim were married in Phoenix in 1972 and were married over 52 years. After Jim left the Air Force in 1974, she endured two tough years in Ann Arbor, Michigan while Jim got his MBA. They settled in St Louis, where they lived for almost 10 years. They moved to Wichita, Kansas before moving to Memphis in 1995 where Jim worked for FedEx until his retirement. Pat loved people and traveling. She became an excellent cook and enjoyed hosting parties with lots of food. With her best friend in Indianapolis, Pat visited Washington, D.C. and New York City. She was able to visit the White House and the Capitol Building in Washington, which she was always fond of talking about, and the top of the Empire State Building. She later visited Chicago. When Jim was at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, she went with some of the officers wives to Atlantic City and saw Frank Sinatra perform. Her group met a younger Donald Trump. She made many trips to Florida and the Gulf Coast in recent years and loved the ocean. Pat was courageous and could be independent. In the move to Memphis from Wichita, without telling Jim who was already in Memphis, and with only 12 years driving experience she drove the 600 miles to Memphis by herself. But in Memphis she didn't know where anything was and sought the help of a stranger in mid-town to call Jim. Prior to her marriage, she also met Jim's family without Jim because he had to participate in an Air Force exercise. She loved the military and all things American, becoming an American citizen a week before she turned 42. Nearly 20 years ago she began going to church with Jim and in 2007, she accepted Jesus as her savior and was baptized at Kirby Woods Baptist Church. Despite all the changes at Kirby Woods, she was loyal to it and would never move her membership. She loved Kirby Woods and had many friends there. Her smile was magnetic and attracted countless comments and compliments, even as she entered her 80's. It also helped her meet her husband who always said her smile was why he married her. She always beamed when Jim said that. She was generous with whatever she had and loved sharing with the less fortunate. It was her obligation, she felt. She tipped generously, even wanting to tip the nurses and food servers when she was in the hospital in June. She was always concerned with the other person. She will be dearly missed by everyone who knew her. She is survived by her husband of 52 years Jim, by her brother Phu and his wife Pha Navakanjanarat in Bangkok, Thailand, their daughter Nutcha, and younger son Tanakij, and by sisters-in-law Joyce, Susan, and Katherine and their children. Nutcha helped care for Pat in Memphis her last 10 days. Click link below to view memorial tribute video: https://www.tributeslides.com/tributes/show/HDK23SNFL5RPNXH8