Patricia Lorraine (McMains) Byers |
| Posted 2026-01-24 by mhenderson |
| Published by Mohave Daily News Online from Jan. 21 to Jan. 24, 2026 - Bullhead City, Arizona - Patricia Lorraine McMains Byers passed away peacefully on the morning of December 30th, 2025 at the age of 95. Pat was born on March 17th, 1930 in Walnut, IL to Essie Self McMains and Raymond C. McMains. After her parents' divorce, she grew up between the homes of her working single mother and her father, a railroad signalman. The youngest of her four siblings by many years, Pat was the darling of her sister Polly and her WWII veteran brothers Erwin and Raymond. Throughout her life, Pat captivated people everywhere she went with her dark-eyed beauty, sense of humor that embraced the ridiculous—she didn't shy away from throwing up her hands at her own comical faux pas and speaking-without-thinking moments—and, most of all, her remarkable storytelling abilities. She was a talented dancer and hypnotist, a prolific painter who could sometimes be prevailed upon by her family to perform on the accordion or trumpet. She loved cats and often said that she was "raised by" the neighborhood cats who kept her company as a child, particularly her beloved cat Sasha. As the matriarch of her family in her golden years, she could often be found on her porch 'visiting,' drinking coffee, smoking, and relishing the sharing of old stories, with her husband John, children, grandchildren, and good friends gathered around her. As a young woman, Pat worked as an instructor at a ballroom dancing studio, where she met and married Logan Vissering of Streator, IL, and later, in the Santa Fe Railroad medical office of her long-time partner and one of the great loves of her life, Dr. Anthony "Doc Sam" Samorajski. In 1963, Pat left Illinois with her young family and drove the old Route 66 to Barstow, CA, where she became a fixture in the community, often seen out for dinner and cocktails with Doc Sam at the old El Rancho or attending her son Jim's cross-country dirt bike races. After the death of her third husband, her children's much-cherished stepfather Butch Werthwein, Patricia followed her son Jim to Fort Mohave, AZ, where she lived across the street from him for the next 40 years of her life. She soon met and created a home with Johnnie Byers, who became her fifth husband and the loving grandfather to her grandchildren. The two were regulars at the Avi Casino, traveled the country in their RV, and wiled away hours doing oil painting and lapidary work in their backyard art studio. Pat combined her strong Christian faith with a lifelong interest in spiritualism and the mystical. She had a curiosity in what might lie beyond the world we see which first began when, as a girl, she was allowed to spend a night with family friends in a soon-to-be vacated haunted house, a former mortuary in Peoria, IL. Her interest in the paranormal led her to study hypnotism and astral projection in the 70s, then table-tipping to communicate with spirits. She would show off table-tipping as a parlor game to the delight of her grandchildren and friends, snapping her fingers and yelling "come on table!" to the rollicking card table like she was shooting craps at the casino. Although never active in public or political life, in her private life Pat was a loyal friend, known to speak her mind and stand up for what was right. As a young girl in Peoria, she maintained inter-racial friendships in her neighborhood despite her aunt's threats to send her to the Home for the Friendless orphanage. As a young woman, she shouted down Nazi- sympathizers when she encountered them in her local bar. And later in life at the medical office, she went the extra mile to help overlooked patients in need. She is survived by her husband Johnnie Byers and her three children, Terry Vissering Cowe, Steven Vissering, and James Vissering, as well as a large and loving family of nieces, nephews, grandchildren, great- grandchildren; and her close friends Julia, Kim, Stephanie, and Bob and Dee Leininger. She is predeceased by her granddaughter Larissa Vissering and great-granddaughter Shannon Vissering. Pat will be interred at Desert Lawn Memorial Gardens with a Celebration of Life to be held at a later date. |
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