Patricia Jane Hamilton left us on August 6th, 2016, and went on to join family and friends around a card table to play bridge and cribbage, making sure they all follow the rules and count points correctly.

Patricia Jane Poseley, or Granny as many called her, was born April 5th, 1933 to Frank & Helen (Hanson) Poseley in Perkins County. She graduated Class valedictorian from Bison High School in 1951 where according to her year book she was the prettiest and orneriest girl in Bison HS. The theme continued when she met GW Britton and her father warned him that he was going to marry the "meanest girl in all Perkins County". GW accepted the challenge in January 1953, to this marriage five children were born. They lived in Perkins County after they were married and move to Highmore, SD where GW worked on ranches, and then to Whitewood, SD in 1969. Pat helped support the family selling Stanley Products for many years while GW worked in Alaska. The distance strained the marriage and they divorced. Pat then married Jim Hamilton, and they moved to Ault, Colorado where she graduated from the University Northern Colorado in 1981. As a child she never learned to swim and was afraid of water, so to get over her fear she signed up for swimming lessons at UNC. She could float and could put her face in the water but not over her ears. On day 3 of class she noticed that people were jumping off the high dive, she got out of the pool and never went back. If she didn't want to do something, that was it, she wasn't going to and if she wanted to do something she would, with or without you. Pat always wanted to live in Arizona, they moved to Phoenix in 1985, where she worked as a bookkeeper for an accounting firm. Jim and Pat divorced and Pat continued to live her life her way. One summer with the help of her granddaughter, Angel, Granny got back in the pool and put her head all the way underwater, she knew she wanted to, but she had to do it on her own terms, this was a theme she had all her life. She enjoyed sewing, making beautiful wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses for both her daughters when they got married, sewed western shirts, canned and froze things from her big garden, churned butter, cooked for hired men, taught herself to knit and knit sweaters, bookkeeping, reading mystery books, crossword puzzles, going to the Phoenix Zoo to watch the elephants as often as she could, basketball games, Larry Bird was her favorite, eating peanut butter & saltine crackers for supper, watching Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and her cats. Granny made the best fudge and party mix always mailing tubs of it for holidays and signing her cards "Love, Me".

After her retirement she moved back to Whitewood to be close to family and friends. She loved her children, she didn't worry about her kids the way some moms do, she said she raised them to think for themselves, be independent, find things they love to do and be the best. She said she raised her kids to be strong adults, and looking back she would like to change some things, but what mother wouldn't, and her kids all had qualities she wanted them to have and some she'd like to have in herself. Granny also had a special bond with many of her grandkids and looked forward to them stopping by to play cribbage or just visit. She always had a Coke in the fridge, cookies or candy and advice to give (some asked for, some not) for these occasions.

She is survived by her children, Becky (Ralph) Crago, St. Onge, SD, Kelly (Kandy) Britton, Buffalo, SD, Tracy (Rick) Zwingelberg, Quincy, IL, Josh Britton, Whitewood, SD, Patrick (Anne) Britton, Rapid City, SD; 14 grandchildren; 20.5 great-grandchildren; brother, Jerry (Pat) Poseley, Bison, SD; and nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Ronnie and Bill Poseley; sisters, Frankie Almen and Jessie Kolb; brothers-in-law, Mick Almen and Herb Kolb; grandson, Paul Zwingelberg; niece, Vicki Young and nephew, Chip Almen.

Memorial services will be at 11:00 am on Thursday, August 25, 2016 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Whitewood. In lieu of flowers a memorials can be made to an animal shelter of your choice.

Pat's family would also like to give a special thank you to the Belle Fourche Healthcare Center Staff and to all of the wonderful friends she made at the care center since June of 2015.