As a committed and longtime educator, Patricia Montgomery was convinced she would never meet a student she couldn't inspire and encourage, nor would she ever open any book she couldn't devour in about two days. Teaching and reading were but two of the many passions and talents possessed by the much beloved teacher, mentor, wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. And until her Savior, Jesus Christ, called her home on November 3, 2024, she was still reading what she could and brightening the lives of anyone crossing her path.

She was 93.

A memorial service will be held Saturday, November 9, 10:30 am, at the First Baptist Church of Hereford with Pastor Kyle Streun, First Baptist Church Denver City, officiating. A private family graveside observance at West Park Cemetery will be held later. Arrangements are under the direction of Mendez & Mullins Family Funeral Home.

She was born December 10, 1930, to Jackson Coy and Lucy Northington as the second of three daughters, and raised on a dry land wheat farm southeast of Altus, Okla. She graduated from Altus High School and Oklahoma State University, where she earned a teaching degree in music—another of her life-long interests.

On Good Friday, March 1951, she married her high school sweetheart, Richard Gene "Dick" Montgomery, in Jeffersonville, Indiana prior to his military deployment that same year to Japan, and then Korea.

She faithfully followed her husband's career path while continuing her own.  Cumulatively, she taught for 40 years in school systems spanning both Oklahoma and Texas —first a music teacher and later as a 7th-8th grade English teacher.

Those moves and professional pursuits led the couple to Hereford in 1968, where she began teaching English at Stanton Junior High. In addition to her involvement in a variety of professional organizations and Deaf Smith County Friends of the Library, she earned the praise of colleagues and students alike when she was named Stanton Junior High's Teacher of the Year in 1977-1978. She taught at Stanton for 19 years, and at La Plata Junior High for five years before she retired in 1994.

She believed the love of knowledge is only transmitted by honest, personal collaboration. And her foremost desire as a teacher was to communicate her own joy of learning.

Mrs. Montgomery was proceeded in death by her parents; her sisters Joyce Wilson of Altus, Okla and Chessa Vines of Odessa; her husband Dick Montgomery and her son Jay Montgomery, both of Hereford.

She is survived by one son Mauri Montgomery (Lydia) of Granbury; grandchildren, Kerris Montgomery (Russell Smith) of Granbury, and Kanen Montgomery (Amanda) of Fort Worth; two great-grandchildren, Jordyn Ramos and Kadyn Duarte, both of Granbury, as well as three nephews and one niece.

In lieu of flowers or other expressions of condolence, the family suggests memorials to the First Baptist Church of Hereford.