Patsy Wingo

Still wishing you were here, Mom.

My Mother, Patsy Wingo, was a great adventurer.
Born at home on a scratch farm in Keister on the Greenbrier River, she ended up working in Publicity at The Greenbrier and interviewing the likes of Pearl S. Buck and many other famous visitors...she met my father and her husband, Walter H. Wingo, there, too.
Together by a nudge from Mom, her faith in Dad's vision and abilities, and mortgaging their home to the SBA and selling all of her savings bonds, they created one of the finest jewelry stores in late 20th-century America. As they say, the bravest people are the ones looking at a 30-year mortgage not the bungy jumpers...
Mom and Dad spent many years visiting Dad's children across America, in Hawaii, and in Germany. They took me along on these travels and when my time came, they visited me in college both in Blacksburg, Italy, and Clemson, and my first in-laws in Switzerland. Eventually, Dad was not able to travel so they mainly stuck to the snowbird migration from WV to Florida and back. But upon turning 80, Mom made one last big trip and took my family on a tour of Greece, the Dalmatian coastline, and Italy. We felt like we were all too old for that cruise....
But every summer after that we always made a short road trip for my own and Jim Caldwell's birthdays and she was always up for these micro-adventures. She was a spirited soul, an original party girl, and a dedicated dancer. She loved anyone who deserved it and even the ones who proved that they didn't.
Now she has begun the last great adventure and I hope she is still having fun!
Hell, I know she is!