Obituary of Patricia Brysacz

Patricia Dian Brysacz (nee Shriver), born 5-12-61, passed in to the arms of our loving Lord on April 23, 2014 after a well-fought battle with ovarian cancer. She is survived by her husband, Tom; children Grace, Andrew, William and Emily Armour (Camarata); her father, Bill Shriver; her sister, Kimberly Muller; her uncle Neill Foster, and step-parents Bob and Sandy Kinzie. She is preceded in death by her sister Andrea Shriver and mother, Linda Kinzie (who also succumbed to ovarian cancer at age 50). Patricia was born in San Diego, Ca., but grew up in Costa Mesa, Ca., enjoying surfing and sailing. After high school she moved to Santa Cruz, Ca. While there she especially enjoyed hiking and backpacking in the Big Sur area. Patricia received a bachelor’s degree in molecular biology from UC Santa Cruz and her LPN degree from Cabrillo College. She worked at an addiction recovery center in Felton, Ca. and later for a biotech company in San Francisco, where she lived for several years before moving to Tucson. She eventually earned her R.N. degree at the Univ. of Arizona and worked as a labor and delivery nurse at Tucson Medical Center. After a divorce, in order to support her family, Patricia obtained a job as a pharmaceutical sales representative with a large national firm and worked there for 6 years before becoming disabled from ovarian cancer. She was quite pleased with the excellent care she received from Drs. Joseph Buscema and Hank Hallum at Arizona Oncology, as well as all the other professionals she saw over the years. Patricia gave of herself freely and often to anyone in need of her time, talents or help. In addition to being a beautifully caring wife, a loving mother, and a good friend to many, she will forever be remembered for her steely determination in the face of adversity, her charming smile, her "pizzazz", her youthful sense of fun and adventure, her absolute devotion to Jesus Christ and the twinkle in her eye. Patricia loved the outdoors and the absolute beauty of God's creation. She was also an avid Scrabble and crossword player. Patricia loved travelling, especially in the car, and almost nothing in life pleased her more than being on the beach - and looking for shells and glass...and for whales and dolphins! She enjoyed countless hours gardening, as well as painting and decorating her home. She was especially fond of hearts, and often collected rocks that were heart-shaped (sometimes you had to really “imagine” the heart shape!) Patricia loved people more than anything other than God himself, and if you knew her, then you couldn’t help but know this. She was a very long-time member of Casas Church in Oro Valley, where she especially enjoyed singing during worship time. Services will be at Casas Church in Tucson, Arizona (10801 N. La Cholla Blvd) on May 10, 2014 at 11:00 AM. ALL ARE WELCOME. In lieu of flowers, Patricia would ask for donations to the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition.