Patricia Lanford

Patricia Leone Harling Lanford “Pat” was born to Ben Leroy Harling, Sr and Jessie Daniell Harling on Christmas Eve 1939 in Huntsville, Alabama, where her father was transferred for business for short time. The Harling family soon returned to Atlanta to Collins Drive in Bolton. Pat’s family was actively involved in Collins Memorial United Methodist Church, where she married her husband of 60 years, Bill. Pat attended West Fulton High School and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Georgia in 1961.

Pat worked for Tucker Wayne Advertising in Colony Square in downtown Atlanta for three years as a time buyer. She married her husband Bill and then stayed home to raise their two girls, sharing her creativity and imaginative spirit through spontaneous projects from the “make-it’” box, sewing costumes and dresses for special occasions, and serving as a Girl Scout troop leader for several years.

In the 1980s, Pat returned to work outside the home in downtown Decatur. She wrote technical manuals, booklets, and pamphlets for a startup called LifeSpan Services, a pre-retirement consulting firm. Pat retired after nearly two decades with LifeSpan to spend time with her grandchildren. “Grandmommy” would meet her granddaughters at the bus stop coming home from Oak Grove Elementary. They delighted in spending time together baking anything chocolate and playing games of Scrabble.

Pat is survived by her husband, Bill Lanford, her daughter, Lynn (John), her granddaughters Emily and Kristin, her niece Laurie Harling Hoefer (Chuck), her great nephews Noah, Charlie, and Tyler, her great-great nephew Jack, her niece by marriage Lane Turner Norton (Jim), and her great niece Sarah Norton (Ryan). She is preceded in death by her daughter Anne, her brother, Ben Harling Jr, her niece Lisa Harling Raynes, and her sister-in-law Janice Lanford Rusk.

Pat Lanford, age 84, of Atlanta, Georgia passed away Tuesday, June 25, 2024 peacefully in her sleep after her health failed living with dementia. A memorial service is planned for Saturday, July 13 at 11AM at Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Decatur. A reception will follow the ceremony in the Grand Hall of the church.