Patricia Loflin Phillips Blanchard

Patricia Loflin Phillips Blanchard died peacefully at home after a very brave battle with leukemia. Patricia was born on November 27, 1942 to William Robert and Rubye Steed Loflin of Gracewood, Georgia. As a child, Patricia participated in 4-H Club, earning the office of President at an early age. She also enjoyed playing golf and tennis as a junior member of the Augusta Country Club. She graduated from Richmond Academy in 1960. She then went to earn her B.S. in Home Economics in 1964 from the University of Georgia where she was a Pi Beta Phi. She spent a number of years in Atlanta where she discovered her love for education as a home economics teacher at North Fulton High School, and enjoyed success as a real estate agent with Skipper Morrison Real Estate agency.
She returned to Augusta and continued teaching at Langford and Tutt Middle Schools, winning teacher of the year. She earned several graduate degrees at Augusta College, and became a school administrator at Tubman Middle, Hephzibah Middle, and the first Principal of McBean Elementary School. Patricia retired as Assistant Director of Personnel for the Richmond County Board of Education.
After retiring, her passion for helping children led her to training and serving as a Guardian ad Litem in the local courts, where she was known for being thorough, fair, and compassionate in her role of looking out for the best interests of the children. In her retirement, she enjoyed traveling to Italy, cruising down the Danube River enjoying the Christmas markets of Europe, and seeing her ancestral home in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Back home, she devoted her time to the Church of the Good Shepherd Altar Guild, heirloom sewing, knitting, volunteer projects with the Daughters of the American Revolution, playing golf, and attending grandchildren’s school and sporting events. A devoted bulldog, Pat bled red and black, and loved watching (and praying) for the Dawgs to win – some may say their recent National Championship is owed, in part, to her devoted prayers.
Of all her accomplishments and endeavors, Patricia was most proud of her three children and eight grandchildren, who called her “Lulu.” She adored and cherished each of them with all her heart. She was loved by all who knew her and believed family was the most important thing in life. If you are lucky enough to have eaten a family Sunday supper she prepared, then you have tasted the finest of true Southern cuisine. Her skills in the kitchen were second to none, and her recipes will live on for generations.
Patricia is predeceased by her brother, William Robert Loflin, Jr. and is survived by her daughters Susan Phillips Matthews, her husband Ryan, and their children Brewer and Macy of Salida, Colorado; and Jennifer Blanchard McCoy, her husband Peter, and their children Mae Loflin, Lucy, and Peter of Charleston, South Carolina; and her son John Thomas Phillips, III, his wife Gilchrist, and their children Loflin, Ballou, and Mary Holmes, of Augusta. She is also survived by her sister Jeanette Loflin Shackelford and her husband Jim of Tryon, North Carolina, and her twin brother William Pierce Loflin and his wife Kim, of Beaufort, South Carolina.
Visitation will be held at Platt’s Funeral Home at 721 Crawford Avenue from 6:00-7:00 p.m. on Monday, April 11th. A service will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 12th at The Church of the Good Shepherd on Walton Way. The family will receive friends beforehand in the parish hall of the Church at 10:00 a.m. prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and the Episcopal Convent of St. Helena.