Alma Patsene Ham, 83, passed away peacefully on Saturday, May 9, 2026, in Paris, Texas. A visitation for family and friends will be Wednesday, May 13 from 6-8 pm at the Wood-Haggard Funeral Home in Bogata.

Funeral services will be at Faith Baptist Church, in Deport at 1 1 am, Thursday, May 14. Despite what Google Maps says, "348 Ruth Street" is the best address to get to the church. Interment will be at the Highland Cemetery in Deport.

Pat was the youngest of five children born to Isaac Uriah & Ada Lee (Robertson) Chaddick. New Mexico homesteaders, her parents travelled to Levelland, Texas to be at a hospital for her difficult birth. She came into the world on May 4, 1943. Pat still had scars on her hairline from the hard forceps delivery.

Pat was extremely smart and gifted in math, reasoning and logic. She won several math awards while a student at Bledsoe, Texas. However, her favorite subject was homemaking, taught by her aunt Lois (Chaddick) Selman. Pat's greatest desire and calling was to be a wife and a mother.

When she was only 16, Pat worked at the little store in Bledsoe. A handsome 21 -year-old Texas Electric employee named Duwayne and his cousin were wiring grain elevators in Bledsoe. On their break one day, they went in for a nickel "sodie water". The Coke machine lid slammed down on Duwayne's finger, skinning it. Pat came over with a Band-Aid and that was it for Duwayne. He was smitten but shy. His cousin asked Pat for a date on Duwayne's behalf. She was smitten too and their first date was a drive-in movie in Levelland.

Not many months later, on January 21, 1960, at the Levelland home of Duwayne's Uncle Clarence and Aunt Opal, in a simple dress and borrowed suit, they became Mr. and Mrs. Duwayne Ham.

Even when dementia stole her memory and she could no longer articulate a thought, she smiled when Duwayne walked into the room. When everything else in her world faded, her love for him never did.

After the wedding, they moved to Muleshoe, Texas to start their life together.

In November of 1960, they welcomed their daughter, Gwen. Soon, brothers Russell and Robert Wade made their family of five complete. Their life at home was filled with love and strict discipline. Pat knew that all she had to do was rattle the little wooden cutting board that hung in the cabinet door and mischief quickly ended.

She supplemented the family income by babysitting during the 60s and early 70s. The children she kept became best friends to her kids and were like family to her. Several extra special ones held a place in her heart — Sheryl and Terry McCamish and Cherie Feagan.

When Duwayne made career advancements, she packed up the house and moved to Slaton, Denton and eventually White Oak. Pat had a gift for always making a home wherever they were. When the kids were grown, Pat spent 1 1 years as Municipal Court Clerk for the City of White Oak. When Duwayne retired, she followed suit and they bought and moved to the Ham family farm in Deport.

She was a no-nonsense perfectionist and, at the same time, she was tender and caring. She had a sense of humor and was a practical joker, never mean but always funny. Because of her family's hardscrabble upbringing in New Mexico and West Texas, she knew how to be resourceful and was a "waste not, want not" kind of woman.

She and Duwayne were a perfect team in everything they did throughout their 66 years of marriage. He grew a huge garden every summer and she spent many hot and sweaty hours standing over the stove while canning and preparing fruits and vegetables for the freezer. Her favorite things to collect at garage sales were cookbooks and kitchen items. She loved to cook for her family, relatives, friends and fellow church members.

She was never interested in traveling very far but was content to stay home and read, cook or sew. She was an amazing seamstress.

She and Duwayne loved the outdoors and camped from the time their children were young up until Pat's dementia made it impossible to go any more. Especially after they retired to Deport, camping at Pat Mayse Lake became a big part of their life. They loved meeting up with friends from church and making new friends around the campfire while Pat played Skip-Bo and Rummikub. She and Duwayne enjoyed fishing and during the last two years of camping, she out-fished him. Duwayne still laughs about Pat keeping him so busy baiting her hook and taking fish off that he didn't have time to fish.

When family gathered for Thanksgiving on the farm every year, they had a feast that always included family favorites of chicken and dressing and vegetables from the summer garden. And the many, many pies and orange slice cake that Pat made every year. The tradition was to save room for fried catfish the day after.

Pat is survived by her husband, Duwayne and their three children and spouses: Gwendolyn and Carl Hattaway, Russell and Beverly Ham, Robert and Paula Ham. Pat loved babies and had a gift for calming even the most fussy little one. She was a loving grandma to her twelve grandchildren and their spouses: John-Matthew and Kathleen Hattaway, Zachary and Jayne Hattaway, Jordan and Emily Hattaway, Hannah (Hattaway) and Jonathan Taylor, Cathan and

Abigail Hattaway, Reagan and Isabella Ham, Merritt Ham, Olivia (Ham) and Austin Turner, Elizabeth and Thayne Olsen, Erika (Ham) and Zachary St. John, Ethan and Taylor Ham, and Eli and Mollye Ham. She and Duwayne were blessed by 18 great grandchildren (and one on the way): Edmund, Isaiah, and Ruth Hattaway, Abi, Josh, Katie, Calvin, Susie, and Halle Hattaway, Jay and Jaxon Taylor, James Isaac Hattaway, Christian and Chandler Neal, and Jamison St. John, Ellie Ham, Everleigh Ham, Liam Ham, and baby Turner due in October.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings: Charles Leon Chaddick, Winnie Christine Basham, Rebecca Nadine Moody and Henry Isaac Chaddick.

Pat was a faithful member of First Baptist Church of Deport and especially loved her women's Sunday School class.

The family would like to thank the staff at Pine Tree Ranch and On Call Hospice for caring for Pat with love and dignity.

"... we rejoice in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5