Patty Ann Blood

Patty Ann Blood, age 80, passed away on October 11, 2023. Patty was born on January 24, 1943, in Battle Creek, the daughter of Leo and Edith (Skinner) Elston. In her early years, she loved movies, outdoor activities, playing with bugs, watching her older sibling do all the chores, and, apparently unknown to her elder siblings, joining her youngest brother for a swim in the farm’s pig pond. She had been a lifelong resident of the area and was united in marriage to William P. Blood, Jr. in 1962. She attended Kellogg Community College earning an Associate degree in Nursing in 1981. Patty then began her career as a registered nurse at Liela Hospital. She then worked at Battle Creek Health System (formally the Battle Sanitarium, then Fieldstone, and currently Bronson) where she retired after 28 years of service. Patty’s love of everything nature and outdoors was continuously on full display from her frequent nursing of injured wildlife to converting the North Pasture to a pine forest to creating an oasis koi pond out of farm marshland.  She loved everything of a four-legged variety, most things of a two-legged, saved those with eight, and even tolerated those with none.  Other interest included her grandchildren, gardening (flowers, not veggies), reading, swimming, with RV trips with her husband, vacations and visits with family members, and continual learning.  Surviving are her three sons, Roy (Sherri) of Alvin, TX, William (Diane) IV of Bellevue, MI, Max of Battle Creek, MI; daughter, Becky (Tim) Wheeler of Battle Creek; 13 grandchildren; 14 great grandchildren; 1 great-great grandchild; and sisters, Ruth (George) Summerfield and Joyce Clark; and numerous nieces, nephews, and cousins. Patty was preceded in death by son, Matthew in 1984; her husband of 57 years, William P. Blood, Jr. in 2019; sisters, Renee Paddie, Beth Ptasznik, and Betty Young; and brothers, Lee and Leo Elston. A visitation will be held Wednesday from 5 to 8:00 p.m., at the Richard A. Henry Funeral Home and Cremation Services. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Thursday, October 19, 2023, at the funeral home. Memorials may be made to the Barry County Animal Shelter or the Calhoun County Animal Center. Inurnment will take place at Union Cemetery at a later date. www.henryfuneralhome.org