Ruth Helen Patterson Pecora died Thursday, Jan. 31, 2019.
She was born in Duval County, Florida, April 27, 1922 to the late Ernest Brown Patterson and the late Ruth Beatrice Dyson Patterson. She spent her early childhood years in West Palm Beach, Florida before relocating with her family to North Carolina. Her family made their home in Burlington, Graham and Durham, before putting down permanent roots in Chapel Hill. In 1941, she enrolled in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she met and later married the love of her life, John Louis Pecora. After graduation from the School of Pharmacy in 1944, she became one of only seven licensed female pharmacists in North Carolina. Her career perfectly blended her intelligence, her outgoing personality, her interest in people and her heart for serving others. She was a pharmacist for 50 years, culminating with her retirement in 1994.
Her devotion to her family and friends was only exceeded by her love for God and His church. She was a faithful member of Raeford United Methodist Church from 1963 until 2012, when she left Raeford to live with her children.
She leaves behind a lifelong legacy of tenacity, integrity, faithfulness and love. She was preceded in death by her husband, John Louis Pecora. She is survived by her brother, Robert Benjamin Patterson and wife, Sandra, of Peachtree City, Georgia; her sister, Jean Patterson Schonholtz and husband, Jim, of Colorado Springs, Colorado; her three sons, John Louis Pecora Jr. and wife, Carolyn, of Henderson, North Carolina, Robert Patterson Pecora and wife, Sue, of Cookeville, Tennessee, and Ernest Silvio Pecora and wife, Tamra, of Myrtle Beach South Carolina; daughter, Martha Pecora Norman and husband, Rick, of State Road, North Carolina, eight wonderful grandchildren; and three beautiful great-grandchildren.