From: Buck Stevens
<aufans@me.com>
~ IN MEMORY ~
Western/Delta
Flight Attendant Patti Maxey
(1944-2023)
Wife of
WA/DL Capt. Bill Maxey
Service dates
- Nov. 15, 1967 - Sept. 1997
Patricia Lee
Kennedy Maxey was born in Cleveland, Ohio but grew up with her four brothers in
South Charleston, West Virginia. She had to learn to enjoy playing
boy games which gave her the great competitive spirit and “spunk” that remained
with her always. After completing high school, she drove herself West to
Colorado where the beauty of the mountains captured her and she started a new
life. Hired by Western Airlines as a flight attendant in 1967 she embraced the
adventurous spirit and travel opportunities that came with that
career. She flew out of Denver, Colorado mostly on Western’s
“Islander” route to Hawaii. She met and married her first
husband in Denver, who later died in a traffic accident.
She became a
very successful Realtor working in Denver and started flying to London when
Western was awarded the route. She gave up her real estate business as she
joined hands with a Western pilot and moved to Salt Lake City, Western’s new
hub. She married Bill Maxey at Ixtapa, Mexico in 1983.
Boating
became a large part of their lives and they decided to live on a lake in Idaho
and later, a lake in Alabama where she completed her 30 year flying career
internationally with Delta Airlines out of Atlanta. Patti said, “I’ve seen
it all from the air now let’s see it from the road”, and the Motorhome
lifestyle became the way to go. All the lower 48, Mexico, Alaska,
Western Canada, and the Maritimes were all destinations but the emphasis was on
the journey.
Patti was an
outstanding cook who enjoyed large parties not overlooking anything. She had a
real talent for oil painting, and a great eye for color, which reflected in the
paintings that she produced. She was an avid fly fisherman, and was certified
in the ocean in scuba diving. She was a beautiful, snow skier and a member of
the ski patrol. She loved to waterski and all water sports of any type.
She even tried hang gliding, but disliked the grasshoppers on landing.
She truly
embraced the active lifestyle and enjoyed and loved the many people that she
came in contact with throughout her life. Patti was always a compassionate
and caring person. Not only in words, but in deeds. After seeing a picture of a
Vietnamese baby with a horrendous hemangioma covering most of her face, she
said that she couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. She orchestrated the
reconstructive surgery in Madrid, Spain, for the baby. She traveled once to
Vietnam to deliver the baby’s medicine and to Spain three times to facilitate
numerous operations on the child.
She also
trained and became an EMT for her local volunteer fire department helping
others in need. She was active for 10 years. She leaves us with great memories,
loving life to the fullest. She was the “real deal” sharing her
enthusiasm and love with everyone she met in her journey through life. After a
short illness the Lord reached out, and carried her home. Well done
my true and faithful servant. You are truly home now.
PCN Memorial Site:
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