Patsy "Pat" Jean (Jennings) Short

Patsy Jean (Jennings) Short, long-time Seminole, Oklahoma, resident, passed away in her home on June 4, 2023, at the age of 92.  Pat was born on November 8, 1930, in Seminole, to Robert Lee Jennings and Annie Loise (Jobe) Jennings.  Pat spent her school years in New Lima and Bowlegs, where she graduated in 1948.  During her school years, Pat played the clarinet in the school band, participated in school plays and enjoyed the home economic classes.  Outside of school, she spoke of great fondness for her time spent working at Wacker’s (a five and dime store) and as a soda jerk at the Seminole Rexall Drug.

On June 25,1948, she married her high school sweetheart, Leon Short, who proceeded her in death in March of this year. Pat and Leon spent many years living in the Shidler, Oklahoma area before returning to Seminole in 1991.  Pat and Leon liked to play cards, dominoes, and travel together.  Pat enjoyed reading and cooking and was quite adept at making a table of good, filling food out of very few ingredients.  She also enjoyed bird watching and taking lots of photos to document their trips.  She was good to listen to others and offer words of encouragement and truth. She was a woman of few words but was funny and loved to laugh.  She enjoyed many mother/daughter/sister trips with her mother Loise Jennings, and sisters Billye, Carol and Frances.

Pat spent years helping Shidler Baptist Church at Falls Creek summer camps, singing in the church choir, and diligently teaching the Bible to classes through Sunbeams, Junior High Departments, Young Adults, and Women’s classes, as well as teaching an adult class at the First Baptist Church of Seminole, OK, after moving back to Seminole in 1991.  Pat had a listening ear and offered words of encouragement and truth to others.

We all knew that our Mom and Nanny had a strong faith and belief in God, loved Jesus and relied heavily upon him for her daily needs, and loved God’s word.  We knew she was a prayer warrior.  But we didn’t know her Gospel story.

It was during a Sunday morning service at Shidler Baptist Church, in 1967, that a “war began to rage” within Pat when a question was asked, “as you look at yourself in your morning mirror, can you say, ‘Do you know if you’re going to heaven?’.”   That day, Pat wrote, “I came to face the knowledge that I was lost.  At 9 years of age, I had accepted the Jesus that I could understand.  The years between living a ‘good life’ was all that was happening to me. Being an active church member and worker, I took in a lot of knowledge, and the realization caused me to admit it to myself what God already knew: I had never trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of my sins.”.  She spent that day in an internal battle between God’s Holy Spirit of conviction and her own biblical head knowledge and was finally able to say aloud to the pastor that Sunday evening, “I don’t know if I’m saved or not”.  Pat stayed in conversation and in prayer with the pastor that Sunday evening in June of 1967. She confessed her sin nature and that she was separated from God, and she asked Jesus for forgiveness and to be not only her Savior, but to be Lord of her life.  She was finally able to articulate, that even though she and the pastor had been praying, she still felt “dirty”.  The pastor said, “well give your dirtiness to God.”.  She wrote that “she did – Jesus did – and literally, ‘heaven came down and glory filled my soul’.”  (Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.) Pat wrote, “I can look now at the mirror me and know that yes, I’m going to Heaven.”.

One of her favorite verses in the Bible is found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah: “Do you not know?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.  Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on the wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

Surviving family include her son, David Short, of Seminole, and daughter, Peggy Short Hickinbotham, of Huntsville, Alabama and 8 grandchildren: Amy Hickinbotham York (Chris) (Madison, AL); Jesse Short (Beaver, OK); Joshua Epperson (Brandi) (Chickasha, OK); Sonny Short Phillips (Seminole); Rachel Short Bartholomew, (Martin) (Bartlesville, OK); Abigail Hickinbotham Eledui (Emory) (Athens, AL); Aaron Short, (Bartlesville, OK), and Alyssa Hickinbotham (Huntsville, AL); 13 great grandchildren, from ages 18 years to one month (Jarrett, Joselyn, Annabelle, Alana, Lindsey, Rylan, Analiese, Emmeline, Aubrey, William, Elias, Murphy, and Charlotte). Pat is also survived by her sister, Carol White of Lake Jackson, TX, very special nephews and nieces, and long-time friends.

Pat was preceded in death by her husband, Leon Bobby Short, and her son, Robert L. Short; her parents Robert and Loise Jennings; beloved sisters Billye Coates and Frances Uppendahl, and beloved brothers-in-laws, James “Pinky” Coates and Eldon White.

Pallbearers will be David Short, Jesse Short, Aaron Short, Martin Bartholomew, Robert Wert and John Bristow.

Viewing will be from 1:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, June 8, 2023 at Swearingen Funeral Home.

Graveside services will be held on Friday, June 9, 2023, at 10:00 a.m. at the Maple Grove Cemetery Chapel.  Services are under the direction of Swearingen Funeral Home in Seminole, Oklahoma.