Patricia Ann Coles

Patricia Ann (nee Kilsdonk) Coles went home to the place that Jesus prepared for her (John 14:2) on March 17, 2018, after a brave four-year battle with brain cancer.

Born in Appleton, Wisconsin to Norbert Francis and Mary Frances (Vander Wielen) Kilsdonk on July 31, 1953, the fourth of ten children, Patsy was raised in the Dutch community of nearby Little Chute.  She graduated from St. John’s High School in 1971, then attended and graduated in 1975 from Edgewood College in Madison with a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Studies, where she was class president.  She continued her education in graduate programs at Marquette University in Milwaukee and Trinity International University in Deerfield, Illinois.

Pat met her husband Dave at Marquette, where she worked as a financial aid administrator and he was a Navy ROTC instructor.  Together, they raised two children, Shaula and David Patrick.

Pat was a gifted artist and writer.  She won “Best in Show” for her submission to a local art contest and presented gifts of portraits and other artwork to family members and friends.  She is listed in the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) for a small role she had in a film created by students at Trinity, where she worked in the financial aid department.  She loved to design, create, and paint sets and backdrops for Vacation Bible School and various plays and programs at Packard Road Baptist Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan, including a life-sized backdrop for Da Vinci’s “Last Supper” for a living Last Supper Maundy Thursday observance. More recently, she was a guest columnist for the Kenosha News’s “My Turn”, writing her column for almost a year.

Pat’s proudest accomplishments were those of her children, whom she raised with her husband mostly in Ann Arbor.  A devoted mother, she homeschooled her children through middle school, while working as a proofreader for Servant Publications, and as a kindergarten aide, academic advisor and Bible teacher at Washtenaw Christian Academy in the neighboring community of Saline.  Pat also taught Sunday school at Packard Road Baptist Church for many years to almost all age groups, her favorite being young singles, and rejoiced over wedding announcements and visits that she received from her former students over the subsequent years.

In 2003 God graciously and providentially returned her to full-time work exactly where she left off, as a financial aid administrator at Spring Arbor (Michigan) University.  She rejoined her husband in Pleasant Prairie in 2005 after a brief work-forced separation, and joined the financial aid staff at Carthage College in Kenosha.  She later joined the financial aid staff at world-renowned Trinity International University, where she served as the Director of Financial Aid from 2010 to 2014, when she was diagnosed with her illness.

Pat is survived by Dave, her husband of 34 years; daughter Shaula (Douglas) Hutt of Jackson, MI; son David Patrick (Daniella) Coles of Waco, TX; grandchildren Kaetlynn, Logan, Liliana, and Ada Hutt; siblings Frank (Liz) Kilsdonk of Sun Prairie;  Joann (Dom DeLeo) Kilsdonk of Wellesley, MA; Mary (Paul) Malischke of Madison; Judy (Mark) Stegman of Littleton, CO; Janet Kilsdonk of Madison; Sue (John) Danielson of Frisco, TX; Betty (Ted De Maria) Kilsdonk of Boulder, CO; Tom (Beverly) Kilsdonk of Sunnyvale, CA; and Barb (Nate) Thompson of DePere; as well as many nieces, nephews, and great nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her parents.