Patricia Ann "Pat" Supernaw

Funeral services for Patricia Ann (Gerhardt) Supernaw, of Tulsa, were held Saturday, January 19, 2013 at Johnson Funeral Chapel in Sperry, OK. Reverend Randy Parker officiated and burial was in Rest Haven Cemetery in Sperry, OK. Casket bearers were David Wood, Christine Wood, Kristopher Wood, William Gerhardt, and Justin King.

Patricia was born June 25, 1944 in Edenburg, TX to Orville Gerhardt and Florena Florence (Berkley) Hughes. She passed away January 16, 2013 in Tulsa, OK at the age of 68.

Pat moved to Tulsa around the age of eight, where she attended Cherokee Elementary, and Junior High in Turley along with John. They became classmates while in sixth grade. She started going steady in about eighth grade. John and Pat both graduated from McLain High School in 1962. Pat was raised on 60th St North while John lived on 75th St North in Turley. John’s dad would drop him off to school on his way to work and after he left, John would walk up to Pat’s house and they would walk to school together. Pat really loved that. John and Pat are just a month apart in age.

When they were 17, John was working at Johnny Smith’s Supermarket after school and on weekends. John and Pat wanted to get married, so they went to Zale’s Jeweler’s in Tulsa and bought a wedding set. When John’s mother found out, she made John take them back and said that she would never give him permission. He would have to wait until he was 21. During that time period, a boy would have to wait he was 21.

After graduating in May of 1962, John joined the Navy and was stationed in Long Beach, CA. In 1963, John was assigned to a shipyard for an overhaul in Portland, Oregon that would last six months. While there, John came back home on leave for a week. While home, John and Pat still wanted to get married, so he bought Pat an engagement ring and the two went to Pawhuska on December 10, 1963 to get married before he had to return to duty. They had to have a witness, and didn’t have one so the Justice of the Peace went next door to a bar, brought back to men and paid them 2.00 each.

So on a very short honeymoon that night, Pat and John got a motel room at the Winston Motel in West Tulsa. They checked in around 7pm. It was snowing and John hates snow. So about 11 pm, John took Pat back to her home and he went to his home. As his parents didn’t know that he was married, they would properly spend four more days together, and Pat would go home each night.

When John went back to the ship, he wrote his parents and told them that he and Pat got married. All they told him was that he made his bed and now he had to lie in it. (It was a great bed, John says as they were married for 49 years.) Pat never did anything by herself, but she got on a greyhound bus and brought towels, dishes, and other things to set up housekeeping, and went to Poland all on her own. She didn’t know anyone there, but they wanted to be together. On her own, Pat found an apartment with a housekeeping room on the fifth floor and no elevator. They shared a restroom with everyone else on their floor. It wasn’t a nice place, but it was all that they could afford at the time, which was really nothing.

Pat and John mainly ate pancakes and cereal. Pat’s mom would send them commodities a few times until John’s allotment kicked in. John was a cook while was in the Navy and didn’t have to stand duty. He got to go home every night and would walk around two miles or so to home and back to ship since they didn’t have any transportation. Pat’s favorite treat, was when once a week they would walk five blocks to a Jack in the Box. Pat and John were happy living there in Poland. Pat and John always talked about how happy it was living in that place, even though things improved in their lives. Pat would always by herself, pack up their belongings every time John would be sent overseas. When John came back to stateside, Pat would find a place by herself for both of them.

When John got out of the Navy, they bought a house on North St. Louis Street behind McLain. While living on North St. Louis Street, Pat and John had two children, Michael and Alycia. They lived there for about six years, then they bought a house down the street from John’s parents on 75th Street and they lived at that house ever since. Pat worked for Tulsa Public Schools for about 10 years as a health assistance and attendance clerk. When Pat’s mother became ill, they had her live with them to take care of her and John’s mother never drove. So, Pat would take John’s mother to the store and doctor, along with her own mom and children. She put her family and her husband first above anything else. Pat loved the beach and when John retired, she would always go back to wherever there was a beach.

Pat and John would go on vacations, generally to Galveston, Texas or Padre Island. She was very happy being at the beach. Pat’s main focus in life was in the Lord and her family. She always put them first before herself. She was a very great and devoted wife, mother and grandmother. Pat is truly, truly an angel and is dancing with the Lord and walking without breathing problems or back aches.

She is survived by her husband, John Supernaw of Tulsa; son, Michael Supernaw of Tulsa; daughter, Alycia King and husband, Justin of Collinsville; brother, Orville Gerhardt, Jr. and wife Geneva of Tulsa; grandchildren, Julia Supernaw, David Wood, Christine Wood, Kristopher Wood, Jennifer Smith and Brandon Wood; great-grandchildren, Hayden Wood, Jacob Wood, Kayleigh Wood, Natalie Wood and Johnathon Wood; and many other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her father, Orville Gerhardt; mother, Florena Hughes; and step-father Bert Hughes.