December 29, 1929 – December 14, 2025
Patricia Jean Lawler passed away peacefully after a long, full life, in the presence of family, after a short stay at Hospice Alliance.
Born in Kenosha on December 29, 1929, to Ward Willis and Elizabeth Jean (Bloxdorf) McCarron, her family moved first to Berwyn, Illinois, and then to Chicago, where she attended St. Bartholomew Elementary School and Immaculata High School before matriculating at Le Clerc College in Belleville, Illinois. On one of the trips her family made to Kenosha to visit their extended family, she met her future husband, the late James Joseph Lawler, at a family picnic. They wed on November 26, 1949, at St. James Catholic Church and remained happily married until his untimely passing in 1981.
Upon marrying, she moved back to Kenosha, where she joined many clubs and made countless lifelong friends. She was a member of the Catholic Junior League, serving as president before her expanding family increased to seven children: Kurt (Cathy), the late Randi (Robert) Bautch, Kim (Laura), the late Scott, Jamie (Lori Marinelli), Matthew, and Thomas.
She was the heart of the family, and her home was the gathering place for her children and their children for holidays and special events throughout the decades. She connected with old and young alike, and often knew more about the lives of her 75 nephews and nieces than they did about each other. She made friends easily due to her innate kindness, sense of civility, and genuine interest in others. When her family or friends were troubled, they would often turn to her as a sounding board, knowing that she would not be judgmental but would simply lend a sympathetic ear.
Throughout her life she actively participated in volunteer and social organizations, including acting as a docent at the Kemper Center in Kenosha, reading to children at Durkee Elementary School, working at the St. Mary Festival each summer, and engaging in various charitable undertakings at the retirement community in North Port, Florida, where she wintered after retiring from the Kenosha County Department of Social Services in 1995.
Pat and her husband Jim were avid bridge players, playing once or twice each week throughout their marriage. After her husband’s passing, she continued playing regularly. Although she was a proficient player and won regularly, she loved nothing more than socialising with the other players.
Throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, she and her family were members of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. A move to the house her husband built in Pleasant Prairie encouraged her and her husband to join St. Mary Catholic Church in the early 1980s, where she remained a parishioner to the present.
Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 20, 2025, at St. Mary Catholic Church, 7300 39th Avenue in Kenosha. Visitation with the family will be held from 9:00 a.m. until Mass. Following Mass, final prayers and burial will be held at St. James Cemetery.
Casey Family Options Funerals & Cremations
3016 75th Street, Kenosha, WI 53142
262-653-0667
www.caseyfamilyoptions.com
