Martha Patricia "Pat" Gideon

Martha Patricia "Pat" Gideon of Prairie Grove, Arkansas, formerly of Fayetteville, passed away December 26, 2022, in Rogers. Her parents, Edwin G. and Mary Atta Wood Gideon, preceded her in death.
Pat was born and grew up in Fayetteville; she studied voice, piano, and dance from childhood. In 1968, she graduated from Fayetteville High School where she sang in several choral groups, including the girls' Choralettes, played percussion in band, and was a majorette. While at the University of Arkansas, 1968-72, Pat continued her group and solo choral work in the select Schola Cantorum, the University Symphony Orchestra, and Central Methodist Church.
As a teen, Pat participated in the local and state Junior Miss pageants and gained awards in both for outstanding talent. While attending the University of Arkansas, she won the 1970 Miss UA pageant and was runner-up to that year's Miss Arkansas, where she again won the award for most outstanding overall talent.
Her first experiences in theater were in musicals, plays, and dance productions with the UA and community theaters, appearing in lead roles in "Oliver," "The King and I," and "As You Like It." After graduating from the UA with a major in Speech and Drama and a minor in Psychology, Pat moved to Dallas to pursue a career in musical theater. She was successful in 10 musicals with the Dallas Repertory Theatre and in summer stock in Fort Worth.
Pat moved to New York City in 1972, where she appeared in the choruses or had roles in several Broadway musicals, such as "Hello Dolly" with Pearl Bailey and "Rex," in which she understudied Glenn Close. Always a hard-working professional, she acted in dinner theater and stock companies. Pat even had her own nightclub act. She wrote thirty years later of that time: "Acting, singing, and dancing were my life!"
In 1978 Pat met Frank Stagnitta, a jazz pianist known for his improvisational talent who composed classical music, much of it with vocals for her. They were married for about 20 years.
Pat's life changed completely in 1979. While performing in a show, she fell and damaged her spine so severely that her theater career came to an abrupt and premature end. The injury changed the course of her life, leading to four surgeries and leaving her in lifelong chronic pain.
The couple returned to Fayetteville in 1983. With the courage and resolve that characterized her, Pat reinvented herself as a classical singer by enrolling in the UA to study voice with a teacher who was, in Pat's words, "sent to me from the Angels!" Not only did Pat thrive as a singer; her teacher encouraged her to resume performing and to become a voice teacher. She taught until 1987, when she and Frank moved to the Netherlands because they saw better opportunities there for using their talents.
Settling in The Hague, Pat performed in concerts, both classical and musical theater, sang as chief soloist at the First Church of Christ, Scientist, worked as a guest teacher at the Royal Conservatory of Music, and developed her private studio. Most students were other teachers or professional musical theater performers, some of whom were sent to her from the Conservatory because they were difficult to teach. Pat formed a great friendship in the Hague with a talented woman there who was a master of numerous natural healing modalities, including Reiki. Her friend's example inspired Pat to become attuned in Reiki after she returned to Arkansas. She helped many people gain emotional and physical healing.
Pat returned to Fayetteville in 1999 to take a semester's position substituting in the University's graduate music department and enrolling in the master's program in voice, where she worked and studied until 2004. Over the next years, she built up her private studio while also serving as soloist at the Christian Science Church in Springdale. She was a part-time bookkeeper for a local company until ten weeks before her death.
Pat's survivors include the friends whose lives she touched with her loving spirit and the students who experienced her life- and career-changing skill as a teacher. As an animal lover, Pat also leaves the beautiful cats she rescued.
Memorial gifts may be made to the Friends of Prairie Grove Pound through its Facebook page.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, January 22, at 4:00 p.m. in Parker Hall on Mount Sequoyah, 150 N Skyline Dr, Fayetteville, AR, 72701.
The interment of her urn will be Monday, January 23, at 12:00 noon at Fairview Memorial Gardens, 1728 E. Mission Blvd. in Fayetteville.
Cremation arrangements entrusted to Memorial Funeral Home, 3926 Willowood Ave., Springdale, AR