Patricia Ann "Patsy" La Chance

Patricia Ann (Branson) La Chance was called to her Heavenly home on Sunday evening, July 21, 2024, after an arduous six-month struggle with brain cancer. Patsy passed ever so peacefully at her home in Boise, Idaho, surrounded by loving family and friends and a host of angels who were already heralding her arrival into the Heavenly Kingdom. She was an extraordinary woman and one of exceptional intelligence, gentleness, compassion, and beauty, both within and without.
Born in Cottonwood, Idaho, she was the beloved daughter of Dale and Arleen Branson, a devoted couple who were lifetime pillars of the Nezperce community. Dale was the consummate businessman / rancher / farmer who built Branson Farms into a large ongoing multigenerational family agribusiness spread across thousands of acres on the Camas Prairie in beautiful central Idaho.
Patsy was a tomboy who wanted to be just like her dad, doing "guy things" and caring little for dolls, tea parties, fairies, and other "dumb" girlish things. In fact, she once shaved the head of an extremely expensive doll just to show everyone that even her doll wanted to be a boy. Yet she loved joining her mother and her sister, Sue, in the kitchen, making and delivering lunch and dinner to the many farmhands during harvest. It was under her mother's wing that she became an exceptional cook and baker, and throughout her life, even when she was cooking just for herself and for me, her husband Bob, she always prepared enough to feed twenty! In future years she wowed friends and family with marvelous dinner parties and dishes that would have had even Julia Childs and Jaques Pepin wondering how she trumped their own recipes! She had but two unrealized culinary dreams: to cook and drink wine with Ina Garten and to challenge Bobby Flay to a Thanksgiving dinner cookoff. Bobby would have gone down!
Patsy loved education and was a superb student, earning successive degrees in both nursing and business. But the immense success in her professional life, which spanned 30 years, was primarily due to her exceptional organizational skills, her ability to ingratiate herself to disparate personality types, and a rare talent as an "influencer extraordinaire." Throughout her career, it was this "competency triad" that put her at the forefront of her contemporaries in the world of elite travel sales (she was frequently top salesperson at the Boise Valley's two largest agencies) as well as head of operations for several large Idaho-based commercial appraisal operations. Bankers, attorneys, commercial real estate brokers and agents all knew her and depended on the fact that, when the most challenging of jobs from them hit her desk, it was Patsy's "git 'er done" determination, expertise, her ability to elicit cooperation from everyone that kept smiles on all her firm's clients as she completed all projects flawlessly and always well before deadlines.
Early in her teens, Patsy finally discovered that she had much more sway over her dad (and, in time, other men) if she exchanged her tomboy mufti for more feminine attire. She became convinced that Cleopatra's approach to wearing alluring attire opened doors much more easily than did her Wranglers and scruffy t-shirts. Patsy's mother was a gifted seamstress and all of Patsy's dresses and "elegant young lady" outfits she wore as a teenager looked as though she had purchased them at a Paris boutique. From there on out, she always dressed in the latest fashions and, in time, her walk-in closet was a testament to the fact that one really could get 600 items of clothing in a 300-item closet IF you had just the right help to squeeze everything in just a little bit tighter. (Nonetheless, she always claimed she had "nothing noteworthy to wear ")
Patsy's artistry was evident in everything she did, and she loved doing crafts of all sorts with her long-time friend Kathy Byron-Stuart. Patsy lined the shelves of our bookcases with some of her most striking pieces and always draw oohs and aahs from those with an appreciation of the arts. She had a brilliant mind and an exceptional talent for any word, card, or board game that was put in front of her. Whether playing Scrabble, Wordle, completing crossword puzzles, Find-a-Word and so on, she was triumphant, winning decisively and swiftly. Patsy's verbal acumen showed up in her rapier-sharp wit and disarming ability to exchange repartee with the best, never giving quarter until the issue was settled, in her favor most of the time.
Above all, Patsy was a "people person!" Her true passion, greatest love, most unshakeable joy, most life-affirming energy, and the best nourishment this side of Heaven for her spirit and soul came from the nuclear and extended families she planted, cultivated, doted over, and loved until she was called Heavenward. At the epicenter was the love of her life – me, her husband Bob – her children Shauna and Ben, her siblings, and her nieces and nephews.
Her peer friendships from her early years with Ron Payne of Lewiston, Kathy Byron-Stuart of Boise, Dee Dee Long of Albuquerque, NM and Chris Javernick-Terrell of Boise spanned her lifetime, and like her relationships of just the past several years with Cathy Dennis of Middleton and Helen Miller of Boise and Phoenix, continued undiminished in their richness and vibrancy.
However, what set Patsy apart from other "Golden Agers" (65+) was that she was continuously adding / "adopting" new "children" (all well under 50, and some in their 20s and 30s) as well as their children. She was particularly thrilled to be the "G.G." (Guest Grandmother) and unceasingly lavished her attention and resources on these young lads and beautiful young "Queens-In-Training." Love, acceptance and comfort in abundance were always the main dishes at the center of her ever-expanding family table and those she "fed" were the cherished, "priceless" treasures throughout her lifetime. These people and so many others always delighted her and fulfilled her ever-present desire to adore and be cherished in return, as well as to laugh heartily, drink fine Scotch, and rejoice in the glory of their shared journey, always doing so without any reservation or holding back. These relationships were pure joy for her, and were, are, and will remain truly forever!
God has a gentle way of taking our loved ones back into his loving care and providing us the understanding and support to accept His plan for an eternal future. Someday, my beloved Patsy and I will once again walk together, hand in hand, for all eternity.
Patsy is survived her husband, Bob; son, Ben Revello of Salt Lake City, Utah; daughter, Shauna Revello-Wilson and her husband, Kevin of Douglas, MI; brothers: George (Becky), Jim (Doreen), Bob (Kathy), David (Janet); nieces and nephews: Michelle, Kari, Julie, Adam, Eric, John, Jason, Kevin, Greg, Scott. She was preceded in death by her parents, Dale and Arlene (Johnson) Branson; sister, Sue and her husband, Jay and by her niece, Jenny.
A celebration of Patsy's life will be held at 2:30 PM on Friday, September 6th at the Cathedral of the Rockies, 717 N. 11th St. in Boise. Private interment will be at the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery. Services are under the care of Accent Funeral Home and Cremation, Meridian.