Patricia "Patsy" Ruth Clanton

Hurst—Patsy Ruth Clanton, 92, passed away Thursday, February 27, 2025.

Visitation will be held Monday, March 10, 2025 from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at Lucas Funeral Home, 1321 Precinct Line Rd. Hurst.

Funeral: 11 a.m. Tuesday, March 11, 2025 at St. John’s Catholic Church, 7341 Glenview Drive, North Richland Hills, TX.

Interment: Following the funeral on March 11, 2025 at Bluebonnet Hills Cemetery, 5725 Colleyville Blvd, Colleyville, TX.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the HEB ISD Education Foundation at https://www.hebisdedfoundation.org/ways-to-give.

Patsy Clanton was born and raised in El Paso, Texas, where she was the Sun City’s answer to Babe Didrikson—city champion in table tennis, a dominating women’s basketball player, and a Gold Digger drill team member at what is now UTEP. Though her life took her to the other side of the state, Patsy always looked back fondly on her youth in El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. 

After finishing college at UNT, Patsy spent the next decade teaching PE in El Paso, which is where she met the love of her life, John Henry Clanton. After exasperating both their families by dating for several years, the pair finally settled down in 1961, and would stay happily together and verbally sparring, usually at her initiation, until his death in 2017. They had one daughter, Marci Lynn, who was the light of their lives from El Paso, to Odessa, to Hurst. 

When they settled in Hurst in 1966, Patsy re-entered the teaching ranks as a PE teacher at Euless Junior High. She would teach generations of PE and history students at Euless until retiring in 1992 to help take care of her grandchildren. While she never understood why they didn’t share her athletic gifts, she was an enthusiastic grandmother, even blowing out her knee in preschool gymnastics. She happily attended every event for her grandchildren while loudly regaling everyone she met with tales of their accomplishments, real or imagined.

Patsy never lacked for an audience to regale because her bright personality and razor-sharp humor ensured she never met a stranger, and she was quick to help everyone she encountered. In particular, she was always ready to help her family—whether by serving as elementary carpool driver for a decade, teenager mediator extraordinaire, or confidant. While no one will miss her attempts at cooking (except maybe the lovely Hurst firefighters who often had to visit her kitchen) we will all miss her ready wit, her larger than life personality, and her deep, unshakeable love.

Patsy Clanton is survived by her daughter Marci (Gary), her grandson Ryan (Erin), granddaughter Heather (Ryan), great-grandchildren Emily Cate and Marshall, and a lifetime’s worth of friends. The family thanks Amatus Hospice for the care they provided Patsy for the last year.