October 5, 1962 – October 3, 2024
Lawton, OK
Funeral service for Thomas Ray Patterson, Jr, 61, of Lawton, OK will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12, 2024, at Lawton Ritter Gray Funeral Home.
Viewing will be held from 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on Friday, October 11, 2024, with a special visitation for family and friends from 6:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
Thomas was born on October 5, 1962, in Bremerhaven, Germany to Thomas Ray and Helga (Kraus) Patterson. Mr. Patterson grew up in Germany, San Antonio, TX, Fort Hood, TX, Arkansas, and Lawton, OK. He graduated from Eisenhower High School in 1981. He worked at IHOP during high school and after graduation. Thomas began working at his exhaust shop, which he opened next to his father’s locksmith business, in 1982. Mr. Patterson’s family meant the world to him. He loved animals and enjoyed going to the casino, tinkering with cars, and in his younger years fishing and camping.
He is survived by his sisters and brother-in-law, Mary Patterson, of Lawton, OK and Margrit and Manny Guizar, of Reno, NV; nieces and their spouses, Shelbie and Christian Neil, Mandy Guizar, and Cindy Guizar and Nathaniel Everrit; great nieces and nephews, Olive Neil, Zoey Neil, Banks Ray Neil, and Jacob Purdy; his best friend, John Chestnut; and his aunts, Edith Kraus, Inge Puleski, and Ingrid Thayer; and his 10 loving pets.
Thomas is preceded in death by his parents; his sister, Debra Mayers-Brunner, his grandmother, Elsie Patterson, and his grandparents, Adalbert and Francisca Kraus.
