Patricia Bourne Frierson, 92, died on February 16, 2022, at her home with her family at her bedside. She was born in Nashville, Tennessee to Robert Irl Bourne and Lorena Tuthill Bourne on November 22, 1929. She grew up in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee. She attended Peabody College and Saint Thomas School of Nursing in Nashville where she earned her Bachelor of Science and RN degrees. She married Wallace Brown Frierson, her high school sweetheart in 1952. They lived in Oklahoma, Michigan, and Shelbyville, Tennessee before moving to Huntsville, Alabama where she has lived for 55 years.
She was a surgical nurse, a Pediatric charge nurse, a Public Health nurse, a school nurse, and a hospital nurse. She took up flying at age 40, flying Cessnas and a twin engine Aero Commander out of Hazel Green Airport. Along with her husband she helped build the first VariEZE, an experimental aircraft, in Alabama and then flew it. She enjoyed flying to Osh Kosh, Wisconsin, Canada, and Florida for family vacations. She kept her pilot’s license until she was 89. She continued her nursing education and license until she was 90. She volunteered with the American Red Cross, taught first aid to scout troops, volunteered at the Huntsville Community Free Clinic, Meals on Wheels and the Alabama Medical Reserve Corps. She also volunteered with Churches United for People to help people in the Huntsville community pay for electricity and rent. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. She was known by her family and friends as a strict but nurturing mother, a loyal friend, a hospitable neighbor, a frugal wife, and a good cook, particularly for her cookies, her chocolate sheet cakes, her boiled custard, and her pear honey. At two separate times she saved both her daughters’ lives. On a family vacation in Florida when her younger daughter was caught by undertow, she swam out to get her daughter and then methodically swam parallel to the shore to bring them both to safety. While piloting a Cessna returning her older daughter back from a residency interview a sudden summer storm with wind shear forced her to make a No-gyro approach to successfully land the aircraft.
She was preceded in death by her father, mother, sister, brother, husband, son-in-law, and nephew. She is survived by her two daughters, Dr. Patricia L. Frierson, and Beverly Frierson Hobson (Bill); her grandchildren, Erin Louise Alexander (Ryan) and Robert Wallace Hobson (Tay); five great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
There will be a private family service at Zion Presbyterian Church in Columbia, Tennessee. In lieu of flowers please send memorials to Community Free Clinic of Huntsville or Churches United for People through First Presbyterian Church of Huntsville, Alabama.
