Patricia Rae Rush Newcomer flew away to her heavenly home to be with Jesus early in the morning Thursday, March 12, 2026. Patricia entered her earthly life in Weiser, Idaho, June 10, 1940. She is the second child of William Leslie Rush and Anna Marie (Grove) Rush. She died of a chronic lung condition and exhaustion of struggling to breathe, though she never once said, "I can't breathe." Only that "I'm having a hard time breathing." Her remarkable sense of humor and quick wit were on full display as she had hospital staff, doctors, family and friends laughing as she was dying. Amidst the struggle, she was conscious and responsive until just a few minutes before soaring home! Patricia had ten siblings, five by her mother and five by her father's second marriage. They are Darlena Gilbert, Kay Rush, Bonnie Murray, Beverly Sheridan, Sherri Maywald, Billie, Donna, Monty, Danny and Kristi. Patricia met Bill O'Connor in Bellingham, Washington. They were married August 9, 1960, and had their first beautiful child Shanna Renee, March 25, 1961. She was soon joined by a loveable brother Kevin Shawn, March 2, 1961. Creative Brian Scott joined the family October 7, 1964. After Patricia and Bill divorced, beautiful Kristen Dianne joined the family August 6, 1969. Patricia met Joseph Mark Newcomer at an Eagles Club dance, April 8, 1995. Their first date was dinner at Golden Dragon in Caldwell, Idaho. Dinner started at six p.m. and ended when the restaurant closed at ten. Patricia and Joseph felt that their relationship was intended from the beginning of creation. The past each other like ships in the night from Bellingham, Washington, to Gainesville, Florida, to San Francisco East Bay, California, to Nampa, Idaho when they met there that fateful night. They were first married December 19, 1995, anniversary of the day Joseph's mother was hospitalized before her death. Their marriage ended October 2, 2009, when Patricia thought she couldn't live with Joseph any longer. After her mother died the summer of 2010, she decided she didn't want to live without him. She said if they remarried before a year was up, it wouldn't count. It didn't. They remarried October 1, 2026. All Patricia's children and their spouses: Shanna and Loyd Owen, Shawn and Debra, Brian, Kristen and Dan Amato, grandchildren: Dustin and Brendan Storey, Dehne and Breanna O'Connor, Cody, Rosten and Jiavanna Kennedy, and one great grandchild, Reese Storey survive her, along with many nieces and nephews. Patricia's parents and five siblings: Billie, Donna, Monty, Danny and Beverly predeceased her. She attended school in Idaho, Washington and briefly California. She remembered all her teachers and many of her classmates through the years at the various schools. She exhibited academic abilities by scoring the highest mark in standardized tests in the eighth grade. She never finished ninth grade, but she later successfully completed a one year of college GED equivalency exam and training for certification as a paralegal. Hallmarks of Patricia's brilliance and inquisitive mind were the remarkably intelligent questions she so often asked. She said, "That is how I learn." Patricia displayed a remarkable entrepreneurial spirit early in her youth, raising a garden and chickens and selling the produce by age ten. That spirit never left her. Patricia lived and grew up mostly along the Clearwater River in Orofino and Kamiah, Idaho, but the family also picked apples in the Wenatchee, Washington area. Music was an important part of Patricia's family life. Her father "Dugan" sang and played the guitar, so Patricia joined him in both. Her husband Bill played "anything with strings." He was fiddler in Coal Miner's daughter Loretta Lynn's first band. Patricia helped her wrap, address and mail recordings of her songs to every radio station that played country music. Patricia loved Gospel music, the Gaither Band and Quartet singing. She sang with Sweet Adelines as an adult in Washington. She and Joseph often watched Classic Gospel on PBS Saturday nights after the Lawrence Welk show. Patricia's intelligence, leadership skills and high performance were displayed in her professional life. She was the first female manager of the first Red Lobster restaurant in Florida, later with two retired U. S. Forest Service packers, she formed an outfitting business that took horseback riders on five-day trips from Weippe, Idaho to the Montana state line along the Lolo Trail. Finally, in the last phase of her professional career, she formed and ran an independent legal forms business as a certified paralegal. No story of Patricia's life would be complete without telling of her love. She loved dogs, horses, children (including her own) and Joseph and Jesus. In her limited later years, she would meet children in grocery stores. Her presence and interest in them sparked instant love affairs that would continue throughout their trips through the stores. Her children say that is how they experienced her and assured them of her unfailing love. As a child Patricia thought she would become a veterinarian because she loved dogs, horses and really all animals. She would rescue baby mice that her mother wanted to dispose of much to her dismay when her rescue efforts failed. She would find Nez Perce Reservation horses out on range. Taking them for wild, she would nevertheless approach and ride them, much to her delight. For a time when financially able, she raised Arabian horses that she admired. Patricia's love for Joseph was always tempered by her love of her children and Jesus. She would tell him, "I love with all my heart, except that I have to have room for my children and Jesus." Then she would say, "But I love Jesus more than you." He would say, "That's okay with me." Her love of Jesus began early. She earned Sunday School perfect attendance awards. They had picture of Jesus with little children with the dates of her attendance. She still had those awards till now. Her love of Jesus was also displayed when as a first grader, she persuades her kindergartener sister Kay to join her in a mission to "preach the Gospel to the world." The family found them with their bibles in a wagon they were pulling along the highway out of Orofino. Finally, we can see her faith displayed by a framed placard that she kept hanging somewhere in her home. It reads, "Get your sails ready and by and by God will send the wind." Thursday morning with family surrounding her, the Wind arrived. Donations may be made to Nampa UCC or a charity of your choice.