Tribute

Patricia Lee Carson was my grandmother, but it will tell you a lot more about her character if I reframe that sentence: Pat Carson was my Mamaw. I am one of seven grandchildren to Mamaw. I am the one with the words, but quite honestly, Mamaw wasn’t about words. She didn’t craft them or mince them together. Her script was succinct, to the point and from the heart. Her character was potent with fire, grit, forgiveness, and the overlooked ability to show up. Presence was her currency. She was refined by the challenges of grieving the losses of two daughters to brutal circumstance while simultaneously offering all she could to her two surviving daughters as a single mother. My mom and my aunt are incredible women, raised by an incredible woman. Mamaw instilled in them a complete inability to stop trying. The Carson women just don’t have ‘give up’ in them. Mamaw left a legacy of two daughters, four grandsons, three granddaughters, three great-granddaughters, and seven great-grandsons. Her sprit was so drenched in pure and true grit, and is present and undiluted even as it has reached her youngest great-granddaughter. Her desires to donate her body to science after her passing might tell you all you need to know about her; she wanted to give what she had to give. She had time to think about her last great gift, and wanted nothing more than for her life in the form of her physical body to be used for education, research, and donation. We will miss Mamaw greatly; we do as I type this, but we feel proud to stand strong as her legacy and carry the torch of her powerful and firey empathy and love.

Friends & Family