Obituary of Lillie Mae Patterson

Lillie Mae Patterson (Woods) age 85, passed away peacefully on July 21, 2016 at Fountain View Assisted Living facility in Portage, Michigan, after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Lillie was born on October 2, 1930 in Charleston, Missouri, the oldest of thirteen children to Charles and Henrietta Woods. She moved to Michigan in 1951, where she later married. Lillie resided in both Kalamazoo and Battle Creek and worked at Altrusa Nursing Home. She was a member of Galilee Baptist Church in Kalamazoo where she worshiped for years. She enjoyed cooking and spending time with her daughter, grandchildren, and large family of many brothers and sisters. She was preceded in death by her ex-husband Jimmie "Cleanhead" Johnson and husband Sammie D. Patterson, grandson Leroy McKinney, Jr. and siblings Mozell Wilson, Robert Earl Woods, and Charles Edward Woods. She is survived by her daughter Mary McKinney and son-in-law Leroy McKinney Sr., granddaughters Nicole and Kanika McKinney, great-grandson Landon McKinney, and sisters and brothers: Hortense Williams, Charlesetta Stegall, Ester Best, Betty Williams, Georgia Eadie, Rose Betts, Vergie, Billy and Willie Woods, step-daughters Marilyn Scott and Anita Johnson-Weston, step-son Sammie E. Patterson, step-granddaughter Sharla Singh, and a host of nieces and nephews. She leaves behind fond memories of her cooking for Holiday dinners and letting her grandchildren spend many weekends at her house cooking mud pies in her best pots and pans, and making tents out of the dining room table.