PATI REINKEMEYER, beloved wife of Dr. Joe Reinkemeyer, M.D., passed away peacefully in her sleep, in her own home, in Reno, Nevada, on February 9, 2024, at the very dawn of her 86th birthday. We had planned a special birthday party, with Mom’s favorite ice cream, and watching her favorite movie, Easter Parade, but we could not compete with the much better birthday party we hope she had in Heaven.

How to describe our Mother, in one word? Beautiful. She was beautiful both inside and out. She was born Patricia Ann Renner, in St. Louis, Missouri, to Charles Norman Renner and Jane Winifred Lahey Renner, on February 9, 1938, at the tail end of the Great Depression. She was born so beautiful, that by age 4, she was being paid to be a child print-and-runway fashion model for Stix, Baer & Fuller, and all the best department stores of St. Louis, putting the money away for college. A few years later, she was offered a modeling contract in New York by the Ford Agency. But this was not to be, as God was not done yet, making our Mother beautiful on the inside…

Her strong Catholic faith was instilled at the Academy of the Sacred Heart school, called “City House.” City House was founded by Saint Philippine Duchesne, a French missionary Nun, when St. Louis was still part of the French colony of Louisiana. In her honor, Mom later gave her daughter Missi the middle name of Duchesne. Every day after school, Mom would wait for her father to pick her up at 5pm. She would sit in the darkened, candlelit Chapel, to “meditate, relax and pray,” with all the silent Nuns around her, in their beautiful habits. She wrote later, that she respected most Mother Jones, who “taught me a lot about discipline and self-control.” From the Nuns at City House, Mom developed a strong, reasoned, sense of right and wrong. So much so, Mother Jones once told her, “Patricia, you know what your worst problem is? You’re always right.” Mom asked, “Why is that a problem?” The answer: “Because you won’t let anyone forget it.” Yes, if God ever put a thorn in our Mother’s side, it was the agony of always being right -- but having to wait all those years for her kids to realize it… Thank you, Mom, for doing the best you could with us!

She graduated from the Sacred Heart-run, Maryville College, in 1959. She then served for two years as a 1st Grade teacher. Along the way, the couple that became Dr. Tom and Mag Eggleston set up Pati, on a blind double-date, with Tom’s St. Louis University Medical School roommate, Joe Reinkemeyer. Tom later told Joe, “Pati is too elegant, too classy, too nice, too pretty, and too good for you. You’ll never get a second date.” Legend has it, a bottle of Whiskey was bet. Dad not only won the bottle of Whiskey, he won my Mom’s heart, and in 1960, they were married in the Immacolata Catholic Church, in Richmond Heights, Missouri. They lived happily ever after, for 63 wonderful years together, each the profound love of each other’s life.

Mom is survived by her husband, Dr. Joseph Reinkemeyer, M.D., and the lucky family they created together. First came their children, Joe Jr., Missi, and Patrick Reinkemeyer. Then Missi, and her husband James Student, brought them their first grandkids, Victoria, Madeleine, and Jack Student, whose Grandmum used to love to drive down to California and babysit. Then Patrick and his wife Natalie brought them their grandkids Clara, Charles, and Benjamin Reinkemeyer – and Mom and Dad seldom missed a Halloween in Lake Forest, Illinois with them, to see what their costumes would be for the year. Finally, Mom was blessed to attend the weddings of Victoria Student to her husband, Chris Nenno, and later, Jack Student to his wife Arden. And best of all, in her 85th year, Mom was able to hold in her arms her very first great-grandson, Walter Nenno. They say when you die on your birthday, like Mom did, it means you’ve completed fully your life’s mission – and Mom’s family was hers.

When Dad often had to come home late, after a long 5am-to-8pm day of surgery, medical office, or hospital rounds, Mom would have us kids, and some delicious new dinner recipe, waiting for him. Mom took great pride in her home. She cleaned everything herself, was a superb interior decorator, and redecorated every room in the house in a different style, which still gathers compliments to this day. And yet she never forgot the value of hard-earned dollar, clipped every coupon, saved every S&H Green Stamp, and looked stylish at all times, whether she was wearing Christian Dior, or a favorite bright-orange plastic ski jacket from Sears.

She was petite woman, only 5’ 2’’, and never more than 105 lbs., but she had a will and a mental toughness, that had her refusing Novocaine or any anesthesia, on her trips to the dentist, to preserve her most beautiful smile. Even at 80, she would go to the gym, and delighted in telling the tattooed bodybuilders, in the middle of a big multi-plate bench press, “Hey, you’re doing that all wrong.” They would get mad, then have to laugh; then the next time in the gym, they would always say “Hi” and talk with Mom. She was friendly and down-to-earth, and always took pride in knowing the restaurant owners and waiters by name, and in sharing stories about her kids, with the grocery clerks at Raley’s. And always, even at the end, there was her beauty. All the friends and loving caregivers who visited her in her final months, would remark how beautiful she looked, with her long grey hair, that she loved to have brushed.

But now that she is gone, it is her interior beauty – the beauty of her soul – that we will always cherish. So please join us for her funeral Mass, on Saturday, March 2, 2024, at 11:00 am, at Our Lady of the Snows Catholic Church, 1138 Wright St., Reno, Nevada, 89509. Immediately following, her family members will follow her to Our Mother of Sorrows Catholic Cemetery, for a brief 15-minute interment ceremony. After that, we’ll come meet you all for a Luncheon, to raise a toast to our Mother, Pati Reinkemeyer, and celebrate all the love and friendship and guidance she ever blessed us with.

Pati's service will be livestreamed at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7du49GgJp4