~ IN MEMORY ~
Western/Delta Flight Attendant Patti Maxey
1944-2023
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.