Jacqueline Fairchild Brown Russell Patton
Published 7:45 pm Monday, June 6, 2011
A memorial service to celebrate the life of Jacqueline Fairchild Brown Russell Patton will be held at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday June 7 at First Presbyterian Church of Selma with the Rev. Dr. Sid McCollum officiating. Mrs. Patton, who was born in Selma December 18, 1923, died June 5, 2011 in Vaughan Medical Center.
A student at Byrd Elementary School in Old Town Historic District she graduated from Albert G. Parrish High in 1941 and entered the University of Alabama, where she majored in Sociology. At the University she was president of Tri Delta Sorority. She later earned a master’s degree in Continuing Education from Livingston State University.
In 1945 she married Donald MacDonald Russell, who later practiced dentistry, on his return to Selma from service in World War II. For a number of years she worked for the Selma City School Board as Attendance Supervisor, then as administrative assistant to Superintendent Joseph Pickard.
After the death of Dr. Russell in 1978 she continued to work part time until her marriage to David B. Patton in 1988 and subsequent move to Eutaw. She returned to Selma after his death and resumed her previous active community life, teaching Sunday school at First Presbyterian Church, Volunteering at the Selma Public Library and with the Selma Charity League Follies. She also enjoyed playing bridge and reading and the activities with her friends in The Singles Group.
Mrs. Patton was preceded in death by her parents Margaret King Jones and Winston Edward Brown, her stepmother Annie Mae Drummond Long, and her sister Frances Brown Grutzmacher.
She is survived by her children Dr. Donald MacDonald Russell Jr. and his wife Cherry; David Caldwell Russell and his wife Ginny; and Ann Russell Miller and her husband David, both families of Mobile.
Survivors include her grandchildren Jacqueline Russell Garner and her husband Paul, Mac Russell III and his wife Lacey, Dr. Rayne R. Osburn and her husband Dr. James Osburn, Mary Russell Miller, Shannon Miller Cook and her husband Robert, David Winston Miller Jr., Ann Marie Russell; and great-grandchildren Sam and Fairchild Garner and Lane Osburn.
She is also survived by the four children of David Patton: Lib Lancaster and her husband Clark, Ken Patton and his wife Barbara, Cooper Patton and his wife Linda and Jane P. Howard and her husband Elton.
The family requests that memorial donations be made to the Selma Public Library or to a charity of choice.