Glenna Katherine "Kathy" Pate

Glenna Katherine Pate
Date of birth: January 20, 1950
Date of death: April 10, 2025
Glenna Katherine Pate-known as Kathy to her friends and as Mom and Memaw to her family-died April 10, 2025. In the early morning of what would be a perfectly warm, sunny spring day with deep blue skies, she passed peacefully in her sleep.
Kathy entered and departed this world on Ranch Road in Pangburn, Arkansas. At a homeplace surrounded by daffodils, she was raised and farmed the land alongside her father and brother. Decades later, on the same land, she returned and built a beautiful red-brick home, flanked by homes of her family, and surrounded by her exquisite flower gardens and towering trees. An old water well marking the remnants of her family's original homeplace sat within view of her kitchen window-a reminder that this earthly home is temporary.
And that she was sure of. In a journal she authored while in remission from breast cancer, she wrote: "This life is so temporary and just a stopping point to the final resting place. Isn't that what we are all striving for."
Kathy's faith guided her foremost. She was an active, dedicated, and selfless member of the Searcy Church of God. She touched every part of the church. The women's ministry, community food pantry, children's church, and Sunday school classes are all marked by her unwavering Christian faith and her love for her neighbors.
Every day, she reflected God's character and the joy of a life lived in Christ. Every day, she reflected, as Paul writes in Galatians, the fruits of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
She was all of these.
She was also a steward of God's earth. Irises, daylilies, hydrangeas, hostas, and azaleas surrounding her home were cared for to perfection. Their beauty reflected hers. And she was an avid reader and writer. Devotionals, journals, and her Bible always covered on her side table.
Kathy's family followed her faith. In 1968, she married her high school sweetheart, Keith. Together, they raised Karyl and Kris. Their family grew to five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. When she and Keith built their final home-the red-brick home on Ranch Road-in 2000, she made sure the kitchen and dining room were big enough for the family they'd made together. What followed were Christmases, Thanksgivings, Easters, birthdays, anniversaries, and Sunday afternoons-too many to recount-with a crowded kitchen island and dining room table. Her chicken dressing was always the most popular dish.
As big as she built her kitchen and dining room, they could never be big enough to hold the love of her family that filled her home. The love overflowed.
In the same journal in which she wrote of her eternal home, she dedicated nine pages with nine letters-one for Keith, one for Karyl, one for Kris, and one for each of her five grandchildren. On the ninth page, she wrote to her family: "I took the time today to reflect on the people in my life who I love so very much. I thank God for each one of you. You are the people who have made my life full and worth living."
Kathy is survived by her husband, Keith; her brother Sammy (Mary Lou); her sister-in-law, Twyla; her two daughters, Karyl (Tommy) and Kris (Royce); her five grandchildren, Dustin (Allison), Tyler (Hope), Kari (Robert), Keaton, and Kaleb; and her six great-grandchildren, Kasen, Blakeleigh, Kixton, Kolt, Rhen, and Tinley. She is preceded in death by her mother, Veda; her father, Sam; her stepmother, Dacia; and her brother-in-law, Spencer.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, April 13, 2025 from 6:00pm - 8:00pm, at Searcy Church of God. Funeral services will be conducted on Monday, April 14, 2025 at 2:00pm, at Searcy Church of God. Interment will follow in Henderson Cemetery in Pangburn, Arkansas.
Arrangements are entrusted to Powell Funeral Home of Searcy. www.powellfuneralhome.net