Kathleen Mary Van Houten

ARIZONA – Kathleen Mary Van Houten, age 80, joined her Lord and Savior on February 13, 2022. She was born to the late Charles and Verna (Whitehouse) Patterson in Elmira, NY on March 3, 1941. Most of her life was spent in Horseheads, NY. In most recent years she called Fuquay-Varina, NC home, along with Mooresville, NC and Lake Havasu, Az. Kathleen loved to bake bread, cookies, and pies. Every holiday overflowed with her delicious zucchini bread, cranberry-walnut-orange bread, cinnamon bread. She taught her daughter’s how to make her Grandma Crissie’s recipe for the best white bread imaginable and shared her secret to her chocolate chip cookies. Layer in her famous molasses cookies and you were in for a treat! Besides baking, for many years she enjoyed working with students who had developmental delays, retiring as a teacher’s assistant from SCT BOCES. Most of all she loved being a wife, a Mom, and a Gramma. In fact, there was not anything she loved more than that. She would often say that her husband was “her whole world” and the children and grandchildren were her “joy.” Her beloved husband, Richard, predeceased her in 2021. They were able to celebrate 50 years of marriage in 2020. Kathleen enjoyed having their children all together to witness such a remarkable legacy, a lifetime of love. Kathleen’s sister, Barbara Arent also predeceased her, along with her brother-in-laws Henry Moonschein, Bill Kain, and Bob Arent. Kathleen is survived by her daughters, Crissie (Paul) Russo of Lake Havasu, Az., Beth (Dan) Gibbs of Troutman, NC; her sons, Pat (Maria) Gorges of Virginia Beach,Va., and Mark (Melissa) Van Houten of Raleigh, NC. She has several grandchildren. In addition, she is survived by her brothers, Larry (Margaret) Hanlon and Charles Patterson; her twin sister, Christine Kain, along with her sister-in-law, Janet Moonschein, her brother-in-law, Roger (Barb) Van Houten, and many nieces and nephews. Family of Kathleen will receive friends and family, Thursday, February 24, 2022, from 1:00-1:45 PM at Shadow Ridge Baptist Church, 3400 Avent Ferry Rd, Holly Springs, NC 27540. The funeral service will follow the visitation at 2:00 PM, with a burial in the Shadow Ridge Church Cemetery to follow the service. Condolences may be made to the family at bryan-leefuneralhome.com.