I had a hunch, so I Googled for an obituary. Sure enough.

I wrote of Pat York Painter in February 2015. We had made chance acquaintance online when she commented on one of my blog posts on the basis of our mutual descent from Thomas and Rebecca Nicholson Nicholson. “If you’re ever in Iredell County,” she said, “I’ll show you around.” I made it a point. And on a gray and rainy winter afternoon, I rounded the hills and crossed the creeks of Eagle Mills township, ancestral home to my Colverts and Nicholsons and related Daltons, as Pat narrated. She spun a web of stories that introduced me to the lands on which Walker and Rebecca Parks Colvert and Harriet Nicholson lived and identified the enslavers of Josephine Dalton Colvert’s forebears.

“Mrs. Pat York Painter, 80, of Harmony, died Saturday, May 20, 2017 at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Born in Iredell County on December 4, 1936, she was a daughter of the late Richard Barnard and Mabel Arlene York Hayes.

“Pat was retired from the Iredell County EMS, where she was the first female Paramedic in Iredell County. She spearheaded the startup of the First Responder Program and was honored with a Lifetime Membership in the Iredell County Rescue Squad.  She graduated from Harmony High School and dearly loved her horses, gardening, driving her tractor and being outdoors.  She was a hardworking and determined person. She also helped maintain the old Liberty School House.

“Survivors include her children: Linda D. Bronson (Kevin), Susan D. Smyth (Rick), John Duchinski (Julie), Trish D. Velzy (Steve) and David L. Painter (Emily). Also surviving is her brother, Tony Barnard (Lisa) and grandchildren: Dylan Smyth, David A. Painter, Kinsley Jo Duchinski and Jayce Johnson and a special cousin, Joe Mullis.

“Services celebrating Pat’s life will be conducted at 3:00 P.M. Tuesday, May 23, 2017 at Macedonia United Methodist Church with Rev. Mack Warren officiating. Burial will follow in the church cemetery. The family will receive friends at the church from 1:00 to 3:00 prior to the service. Members of the Iredell County Emergency Services will serve as active and honorary pallbearers.

“Condolences may be sent online to the family to www.nicholsonfunerals.com. Memorials may be given in lieu of flowers to the North Iredell Rescue Squad, 1538 Tabor Rd., Harmony, N.C. 28634.  Nicholson Funeral Home is entrusted with the arrangements.”

Many thanks, Pat Painter. Rest in peace.