PATRICIA BRESHEARS

April 09, 2021

LAMAR- Private services will be held for Patricia Lynne Breshears, 83, Lamar, who died Sunday, April 4, 2021, in Lamar.

Arrangements are under the direction of Daniel Funeral Home.

Contributions are suggested and made payable to Gideons International, in care of the funeral home.

Condolences may be shared at www.dfhlamar.com.

Survivors include two sons, Michael Breshears and wife Melody, Lamar and Robert Breshears and wife Karen, Warrensburg; three daughters, Kathy Watkins and husband Michael, Orange County, Calif., Toni Smith and husband Randall, Hollister and Betti Henry and husband John, Lamar; one brother, Michael Morris and wife Kay, Webb City; 12 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her husband Weston in 2016 and a grandson, Kenneth E. Hicks, Jr., in 1984.

Mrs. Breshears was born April 6, 1937, in Joplin, to Leo Arthur and Dorothy N. (Payton) Morris. She was a direct descendent of early Lamar settlers Alexander Jones and Mary Delilah Turner Jone, who settled in Lamar in 1886. She was among the fourth generation of Jones/Turner descendants to live in Lamar.

She lived with her family in Kansas City during World War II where her father, Leo Morris, worked for Pratt and Whitney at a war plant. Her younger brother Mike was born in Kansas City. The family moved to Lamar in 1946, where her parents operated a news stand on the square. She spent many afternoons after school on the square playing on the courthouse lawn. She was very active in school. She played drums in the band, was a drum majorette and finished high school as a cheerleader. She was an accomplished tap and ballet dancer, teaching lessons and performing on local tv stations.

She married her high school sweetheart, Weston C. Breshears, in Lamar in September 1955. They set up home in Rantoul, Ill., where he was stationed as a USAF airman. Their family began to grow and by December 1961 they had five children. Over the next 20 years she was a military wife and homemaker, moving 11 times, including 2 1/2 years spent in Okinawa, Japan. She turned each house at every station assignment into a home. Mrs. Breshears was very creative and resourceful, turning holidays into events with her decorating, celebrating and buffet tables. She was involved in PTA, Girl Scouts and served as room mother during the years raising children.

She loved sewing, home decorating and collecting antiques. Over the years she had booths in several flea markets in southwest Missouri. When she and her husband moved back to Lamar in 1997 for their retirement years, she was a member of the Theatre Guild, Athenaeum and the Gideons Ladies Auxiliary.

Mrs. Breshears accepted Christ in 1962 and began a long life of following Him. She taught Sunday school at every church of which she was a member. She attended and led woman's Bible studies, organized ladies events and was an active member of the church throughout her life. At her death, she was a member of Liberty Baptist Church.