John Russell Patterson, 41, died unexpectedly on Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Born in Martin Kentucky, on July 6, 1977, he was a bilingual preacher’s kid and missionary kid in Honduras, Central America. John loved to help people and cherished his friends. Large of personality and large of life, his talents were great from his intense passion for music, to foreign language, to crafting in a workshop, to academics and his love for nursing. He was a graduate of Academia Los Pinares, Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Central America and attended South Point High School in Belmont, North Carolina. He was a graduate of Delta State University, where he studied music and foreign language and was a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity.  He also was a graduate of Gaston College and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in nursing. He attended William Carey University as well. Proud to be a night nurse, he was most recently employed at Baptist Hospital -North Mississippi in Oxford.

Survived by his parents, Russell and Elaine Patterson of Gastonia, North Carolina; his brother, Heath Patterson of Jackson, Mississippi; his aunts and uncles, Dr. Paul and Judy Wilcox of Meridian, Mississippi, and Bob and Bette Jo Patterson, Carol and Cary McGonagill, and Ginger Patterson; and his grandmother, Altie Patterson, all of Oxford, Mississippi.  He was preceded in death by his grandfather, Robert Patterson.

 

A Celebration of Life Service will be held on Sunday, March 3, 2019, at 2 p.m. at East Baptist Church, Gastonia and also on Saturday, March 9, 2019, at 1 p.m. in Wesley Hall at Oxford University United Methodist Church in Oxford, MS.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to: East Baptist Church’s Honduras Mission Team, 114 N. Church Street, Gastonia, NC, 28054. An online guest register is available at www.blakelyfuneralhome.com. Blakely Funeral Home & Crematory, Gaffney, South Carolina, is in charge of services.