Patricia H. Hillery

Patricia H. Hillery

STAUNTON, Va. — Our mother, Patricia Hopkins Stempkowski Hillery, passed from this life on June 26, 2012, in Staunton, her home for the last 11 years.

Born March 3, 1925, in Aylburton, Gloucestershire, England, to Elizabeth (Weaver) and Charles Hopkins, she had a lifelong love of learning.

The 1930s in England were hard times, but her father and mother provided for all six children and the memories, as the youngest child, Mom shared with us were always happy ones.

When England went to war with Germany in 1939, Mom was 14, and war seemed exciting. Then her boyfriends we...