Patricia Jane Sunstrom

Patricia Jane Vieth Sunstrom passed away on Saturday, February 2, 2013, in Roswell, Georgia, at the age of 92. Known in her youth as Patsy, she was preceded in death by her parents, Otto and Angeline (L'Hote) Vieth, her husband of 69 years, Robert F. Sunstrom, and her brothers, John Gerald Vieth and Paul Robert Vieth. Patricia is survived by her children, Lisa (David) Sunstrom Penz, Robert R. (Eileen) Sunstrom and Sarah (Jorge) Sunstrom Bedia, her sister Joan Vieth Champeau, her grandchildren Larissa Penz Reece, Frederik Penz, Jennifer Sunstrom, Sheila Sunstrom Steinhoff, Scott Sunstrom, Lucas Bedia and Andrew Bedia, great grandchildren Zo and Winslow Reece, and Sylvia and Audrey Steinhoff.

Pat was born January 24, 1921, in Menominee, Michigan and was a 1939 graduate of Menominee High School. She was very proud of her junior lifesaving badge and she loved playing clarinet in the Maroon marching band. She married Robert F. Sunstrom on July 1, 1941. During the four long years that her beloved Bob was serving in the European Theater of World War II, Pat wrote to her young husband daily and worked for a Menominee physician. After Bob returned to Menominee, Pat devoted herself completely to the loving care of her family. She was an active member of the Menominee Women's Club, Riverside Country Club, and was a longtime member of the PEO Sisterhood. She was an exemplary Cub Scout den mother and Girl Scout leader who made these activities fun and interesting for the boys and girls.

Pat and Bob retired to Salem and then Clemson, in upstate South Carolina, and then relocated to suburban Atlanta. Wherever Pat lived, she made friends easily and was greatly loved for her sunny disposition. Pat taught her children by her example to be gracious, cheerful, thrifty, and constant. She was an excellent cook, an avid gardener, and greatly enjoyed playing bridge, swimming, cross-country skiing, and doll-collecting. She was a lifelong Green Bay Packer fan and she was immensely thrilled to be captured on national TV, eating a chicken drumstick while tailgating during the Lombardi years. More than anything, she loved her husband and her children and grandchildren and spoke of her love and gratitude for them to her very last days. Pat was a longtime member of St. John the Baptist Catholic Parish in Menominee until that parish closed and then she belonged to both Resurrection and Holy Spirit Parishes. She was also a member of St. Andrew Parish in Clemson, SC.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 1:00pm Saturday, February 9, 2013, at St. Brendan Catholic Parish in Cumming, Georgia. Interment will be at Riverside Cemetery in Menominee, Michigan at a later date. The family requests that memorial donations be made to Holy Spirit Church at www.holyspiritonline.org or at 1016 10th Avenue, Menominee, MI 49858.

Arrangements by Byars Funeral Home & Cremation Services, Cumming, GA.