Patrica Lou Veer

Paticia Lou Skaggs Veer- Born November 20, 1931 went to be with the Lord, September 9, 2026.

Pat was born in Florence, Texas to Clebert Lee Skaggs and Ruth Esson Skaggs. The family moved to Albany, Oregon where Pat attended 1st through 3rd Grade. She was especially proud of the solid grounding she was taught in phonics, reading, and spelling. Skills she used throughout her life.

Her parents divorced in 1940, and Pat and her mother moved to Corvallis to live with Ruth's mother, Edna Esson. Grandma Esson was a faithful member of the First Baptist Church in Corvallis and always took Pat with her to church. It was there, at the age of 10, that Pat heard that Jesus bore the punishment for our sins, and she received Christ as her Saviour and the full assurance that she would be in heaven when she died! Throughout her life, she experienced wonderful, and seemingly miraculous, answers to prayer. And she had many Bible verses to share as well. She enjoyed writing letters and notes, and you could not get a correspondence from her that did not contain a Bible verse for encouragement at the close of the letter.

In 1946 they moved to Salem, so that Pat could attend the new Christian High School- Salem Academy as a Sophomore. It was there she met her future husband, Emil Veer, who was a Senior and the Student Body President. On Valentines Day, in Pat's Senior year at Salem Academy, Emil proposed, and when Pat graduated that summer, they were married on July 14,1950. Emil was adventurous, and Pat loved him for that. Throughout their marriage, they traveled...early on with 3 kids crammed into a truck and camper, and later they traveled the world together, including a 6-month mission trip to Africa where Emil flew missionaries to remote locations for Africa Inland Mission (AIM)

Emil continued his education to become a teacher. The Korean War began and rather than be drafted, Emil chose to join the Marine Corps for officer training. For the rest of his life, Emil was affiliated with the Marine Corps, achieving rank of Colonel, and was even considered for the rank of Brigadier General. He was the Vice-Commander of the Oregon Civil Air Patrol and had been selected to be the new Commander just before his death. Pat admired Emil very much- as is evidenced by this obituary she outlined herself, and how it spends as much time telling about his accomplishments as it does about her own. After his death, she spent the rest of her life saying what a wonderful man he was and how she could not be interested in anyone else...because NO ONE COMPARED to Emil!

Emil and Pat had three children; Gary, Sherie, and Kara. While she considered her most important job to be a stay-at-home Mom, Pat also worked part time for the First National Bank and First Interstate Bank, now owned by Wells Fargo. She was an on-call teller, and was used to getting a phone call at 8:00 am saying 'someone was sick, could she come in by 8:30'? She could! Pat retired from the bank at age 60. Later in life, she challenged herself by working at the State Legislature and learned computer skills for office work for various Representatives during Regular and Special Sessions. She was a member of Republican Women's Groups such as Petticoat Polly's and was very passionate about working for the Republican Party.

A long-time member of Kingwood Bible Church, Pat was active in the music ministry- singing in the choir, playing the piano for Sunday services, singing with the "Shirley, Shirley, Pat Trio", singing alto in a mixed quartet, and sometimes singing a Solo. She scheduled groups to sing for services and helped with the music planning. In the 1970's, Kingwood started an Awana program, and Pat was very active as Chums Director, taking on the role of Commander as the club grew to be one of the largest clubs in the State. She stepped down as Commander of Awana in the mid 1980's as retirement activities called. Later, Pat volunteered in the Church office on Tuesday afternoons to help prepare the Sunday bulletins, and towards the end of her ability to drive to church, she continued to serve how she could...volunteering to help with VBS, outreach events, and hospitality for Missionaries.

Pat is survived by her three children and their families: Son- Gary Veer and wife Tina, grandchildren Aaron Veer (Kelly) and Emily Avelino (Andrew), great-grandchildren Ella & Paul Veer: Daughter- Sherie Dalke and husband Ken, grandchildren Brittany Cake (Jared), Paige Jackson (Branden), and Connor Stombaugh (Jenna), great-grandchildren Ari & Beau Cake; Davis, Wade & Mille Jackson; Greyson & Arlo Stombaugh: Daughter- Kara Taylor and husband Ryan, grandchildren Calvin Barnes, Lauren Barnes, & Luke Barnes. She was preceded in death by her husband Emil Veer. When Emil died in a plane crash at age 70, God had already prepared Pat with a Bible verse- Psalm 139:16 "All the days ordained for me were written in Your Book before one of them came to be." She told God she accepted the number of days He had given Emil, and praised and thanked God for the time they had together. She was filled with the strength and peace that could only come from God. Now that Pat has completed the number of days God gave her on earth, her greatest wish would be that each member of her family and her friends will have received Jesus Christ as their Saviour and will join her and Emil in heaven someday.