+Patricia Carney (9/28/55-9/23/21) passed away with COVID-19

Patricia Carney's funeral will be held at the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul Thursday, September 30, 2021, at 1:30pm. All are invited to come and pray for her soul.

Patricia Carney was diagnosed with COVID-19 after symptoms began around Sept. 4, and she was admitted to the COVID ICU on Sept. 13. After receiving last rites and shortly after returning home to reunite with her children, she passed away on September 23 at 9:35pm, in the presence of her six children. A nurse with many years of child care experience, Patricia had recently accepted the position as one of our new Nursery attendants but had not had a chance to begin serving. Please pray for the repose of her soul and for her family.

Patricia was in isolation at Erlanger hospital and was initially unable to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick or to see her family in person. Patricia and her daughter Mary Beth asked the parish for prayers on her behalf during this time of suffering, and Patricia related to the parish several times her gratitude for all these prayers. Thank you for remembering Patricia.

May +Patricia Carney, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

How to Pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet

Obituary of Patricia Ann Carney

September 28, 1955 – September 23, 2021

Patricia Ann Carney (Cheney), 65, of Chattanooga, TN passed away Thursday, September 23, 2021, following a brief illness in her home surrounded by her loving family.

Patricia was born on September 28th, 1955 in Valdosta, GA to parents James Pope Cheney and Ann James Cheney, both prominent citizens of Gainesville, FL. Patricia grew up and attended School in Gainesville, FL. Patricia was a student at Kirby Smith Elementary, Howard Bishop Jr High and Buchholz High School and was a student of the 1973 Charter class there.

Patricia married James Carney in 1979 and they had seven children together. She relocated with her family in 1994 from Gainesville, FL to Chattanooga, TN.

Trisha attended school at Santa Fe College in Gainesville and Chattanooga State Community College where she graduated from in 1998 with her Nursing degree.

She worked many jobs over the years and was a stay-at-home mom to her 7 children for many years before becoming a nurse as well as working many odd jobs whenever the need arose. She worked for several hospitals and medical facilities over the years including Memorial Hospital, the VA hospital in Gainesville, several psychiatric facilities, Hospice of Chattanooga, and most recently Kindred Hospital, where she was a wound care specialist nurse.
Trisha was a devout Catholic and attended the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in downtown Chattanooga. She was an avid reader, excellent cook, and loving mother and grandmother. She spent her life helping others was always available for children and grandchildren to give rides, deliver food, attend sporting events, school functions, birthday parties and babysit her many grandchildren. She could usually be seen with either a baby or a book in her hands.

Patricia is preceded in death by husband, Jim Carney of Chattanooga, firstborn daughter, Audrey Dawn Cheney of Gainesville, parents, James Cheney and Ann James Cheney of Gainesville, half-sister, Irene Lynette Hancock (Paul) of Jacksonville, FL, and nephew Andrew of Chattanooga.

She leaves behind six children. Anna Carney of Chattanooga, Rachel Carney of Chattanooga, Rebekah Carney Reed (Zane) of Rising Fawn, GA, Marybeth Carney (Marc) of Chattanooga, Michael Carney of Chattanooga, and Sean Carney (Amber) of Chattanooga. One sister, Priscilla Cheney of Anaheim, CA, and grandchildren Robert, Benjamin, Gabrielle, Tori, Taylor, Azairah, Rilee, Zaider, Briddley, Charlee, Kinlee, Preslee , soon-to-be-born baby Maddox Kruz, Brittany, Kace, James, Jacob, Madeline, Olivia, baby Emilyann expected any day, Tayleigh, Vivienne, Breccan, and Scarlett. Also great-grandchildren Hayden and Grayson. As well as a large family of nieces, nephews, and cousins.

A funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, September 30th at 1:30 at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul at 214 E 8th St in Chattanooga with Father Valentin Iurochkin officiating. Burial will follow at Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery at 2:45, followed by a reception at 3:30 at the church.

Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home in Fort Oglethorpe. 3239 Battlefield Pkwy Fort Oglethorpe, GA. (706)703-4396.

Charitable contributions in Trisha's memory may be made to The Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. www.stspeterandpaulbasilica.com

Tribute to Patricia Carney by Her Eldest Daughter

Mom had no idea how special she was to SOOOO many people. She was such a humble woman, extremely selfless, and lived her life to make others happy and comfortable.

She truly had no idea how many people she touched, whether it be her many many hospice patients and their families over the years, or her 25+ grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her seven children, along with any child or adult friend of ours who needed a “mom” for advice, a plate of food, a ride to work, or a home to stay in for a day, a week, three months, etc. Mom was a mother to so many people other than us seven children.

She put herself through nursing school all alone with seven kids after my dad passed and I still have no idea how she did it because he canceled his life insurance a month before he died. She never asked for handouts, she never complained, she never gave up.

There was a time in her life not too long ago when she took me in when I was chronically ill and bedridden and she had lost her car and her job at a psych hospital… she lost it bc she was the one nurse who saw evil things going on and she stood up and said something. She stood up for what was right and just, and she spoke for all the patients who didn’t have a voice, but she was fired. I feel Ike that ALMOST broke her, and any other person including myself would have given up. I know myself for a fact would’ve lain in bed absorbed and overcome with depression, probably hoping to die but my mom got up every single day, dressed in tons of warm layers for the winter air that would pierce her skin as the wind roared, it was freezing cold at that point, (that was the year that it snowed and iced so bad they shut everything down, especially downtown, including the buses for a couple of days but that’s how cold and frigid it was… 2015 or 2016?) yet she bundled up and left at 6am to walk a mile to the bus stop, and her first stop was 7am mass In the small church in the basilica, (with the older priest who’s no longer with us) and she did it every single morning (I went along with her several times actually but I wasn’t as strong as she was), but anyway, she would arrive via the Carta bus, and after mass, she would get back on the bus and go from place to place looking for another nursing job. Again, in the freezing cold. And she was probably about 59-60 years old at that point.

When I asked her how she was able to do it and how she didn’t just give up, she looked at me and calmly said, “ I don’t have a choice. You do what you have to do, you make the best of the situation that you’re in, and you keep going. You pray a lot, you have faith in God and you try not to let anger and resentment overcome you.” And that was what she did.

She was able to get a job after 2 to 3 months, we were in the process of losing the house we were in and we did end up losing it but we found another one and she kept going. And kept going and kept going. Her entire life was spent helping others, serving God, doing what was right and just, trying to make her family happy although she didn’t realize how big her family really was. She had no idea how many people considered her their mother….

She will never know how many peoples lives she touched and we’ll never know either when it comes to all of the hospice patients and their families, the oncology ward that she worked on for years at Memorial, the psych hospital that she worked at and stood up for patients rights, the wound care unit she worked on the last few years for people in severe pain at Kindred, etc… she was so humble that she never noticed all of the good deeds she did especially the small ones that she probably didn’t think twice about, that’s just how she was: humble and caring, completely selfless.

I have a vivid memory of her rocking one of the grandkids, I want to say it was Rilee, the first granddaughter (she had 2 grandsons before Rilee) and MANYYYY more to come, including my grandsons, her two great-grandsons…

We moved around a lot but I’m pretty sure this was when we were living off of Notre Dame Ave. behind OLPH, which we were members of (father Nolan was there who helped us all many times with his non-judgmental advice). The house had wooden floors and the reason I know this is because of the shoes she was wearing and always wore. The loud ones that you could hear tromping through the house at all hours of the day and night. Lol, they were wooden clogs of some sort and so extremely loud on wooden floors with no rugs.

I can still hear the sound of the chair creaking as well as her loud clogged shoes hitting the floor in a certain position (heel to toe, heel to toe…), as she rocked back-and-forth, and I asked her, "how are you still awake, how are you able to do this, aren't you tired, don't babies drive you crazy by now after having so many? How are you able to sit still for so long without feeling like you have to do something else or just go to bed in general?? I don't have the patience like you do."

And without even pausing to think, she said, "you do more with grandkids sometimes than you do with your own kids because you realize what's important and what's not important and a little missed sleep is worth being with them like this. Besides, I'll have all the time in the world to sleep later on..."

I never forgot that and didn't quite understand it at the time but saw how special it was and hoped that I would be that way one day. It's not something that I thought about on a daily basis but again, it's not something I actually forgot about completely and it all came back to me when Grayson, my grandson, was born.

Mom was such an amazing person, she was so intuitive, she was so very wise, loving, caring, gentle, and peaceful. She spoke of peace often. That’s all she wanted was peace, whether it be with our family, or with other people, the world in general, etc…. Peace…

And now she’s finally able to get the rest that she gave up for all of us for so very many years and is finally at peace.

~Anna Carney, Eldest Daughter of the Most Amazing Woman of Our Time~

Updates through Patricia's Hospitalization

Update 9/22/21: Patricia has taken a turn for the worse and is receiving Last Rites today. Please pray for her.

Update 9/17/21: Patricia's doctor says she is in rapid decline, as she considers whether to accept a ventilator treatment to help her survive.

Photos

Photos courtesy of Marybeth Carney Holbrook, Patricia's daughter. Marybeth had been on our Basilica prayer list for awhile herself and is thankful to now be past her own time of struggle.