Patricia Spangler

Patricia Ann "Patty" Spangler of Steelville, Illinois, died Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016, at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau, after a short struggle with cancer. She was 58.

She was born July 30, 1958, in Pinckneyville, Illinois, to Bobby Gene "Sputt" and Wanda Lee Jones Spangler.

While growing up, Patty was a lively and happy part of her close extended family and her church family. Her Christian faith remained the prominent cornerstone of her life until her death.

Upon graduating from high school, she attended Gateway College of Evangelism (now Urshan College) in St. Louis. She became an integral and effective missionary with a traveling ministry team in both Europe and the United States during her young adult years.

In the late 1990s, Patty secured her bachelor of social work degree at Southeast Missouri State University. Her career began at Community Counseling Center in Cape Girardeau.

At the time of her death, she had been a social worker for the state of Illinois for 13 years, working out of the Human Service Center in Chester, Illinois. Her career and her entire life were marked by that which was both work and pastime for Patty -- caring for the needs of hurting people.

She devoted her life to serving adults with disabilities, known throughout southwestern Illinois by social service and law-enforcement agencies for her skilled, effective and compassionate care of adults. In addition to ongoing client care, she was an effective crisis and hotline counselor, often contacted for emergencies such as potential suicides.

She is survived by her mother, Wanda Lee Jones Spangler of Percy, Illinois; children, David (Deana) Nicholas Butler of Portage Des Sioux, Missouri, Elizabeth "CoCo" (Robert) Collier of Jackson and Noah (Macayla) Butler of Jackson; grandchildren, Xadie Collier, Finn Collier and Jase Butler; and brother, Robert (Joy) Spangler of Hillsdale, Michigan.

She was preceded in death by her father, Bobby Gene "Sputt" Spangler, and a sister, Brenda Kay Spangler.

There is no public visitation.

The funeral service will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Tri-County First Pentecostal Church in Cutler, Illinois, with the Rev. Billy Pendergrass officiating. Burial will be at Mueller Hill Cemetery in Pinckneyville.

Condolences may be sent to the family online at www.mccombsfuneralhome.com.

Arrangements were by McCombs Funeral Home and Cremation Center in Jackson.