Sarah Virginia "Pat" Kirkwood Lodge, 84, originally from Roamer's Roost, near Auburn, Alabama, died in South Pittsburg, Tennessee on August 16, 2009. Mrs. Lodge grew up a farm girl with both privilege and pain. She enjoyed the cosmopolitan influences of family members with U.S. Navy careers, the fruits of a large farm, and a college education. She also suffered the pain of her mother's death when she was five years old, and her father's difficult second marriage, divorce, and financial struggles during the Great Depression. Until her recent debilitation from Alzheimer's disease, Mrs. Lodge continued to shower her family, friends, and many others with her boundless generosity, empathy, and grace.

Mrs. Lodge was born February 19, 1925 in her parents' home, "The Bungalow," at Roamer's Roost. She was the child of Sarah A. Spratling of Roamer's Roost and J. Kenneth Kirkwood of Walker County, Alabama, who served as a machine gunner in World War I. Mrs. Lodge's mother died of pneumonia in 1930, and her father in an automobile accident in 1950.

Mrs. Lodge was known from her childhood as Pat, a nickname given by her older brother Kenneth S. 'Husky' Kirkwood. With the exception of four childhood years, Mrs. Lodge was raised largely by her mother's parents at Roamer's Roost. Mrs. Lodge graduated from Lafayette High School in 1941. She and her brother Husky commuted the 10 miles to Auburn University in their grandfather's A-model car. Mrs. Lodge followed her father and her mother, who was the first female graduate from the School of Agriculture at Auburn University (then Alabama Polytechnic Institute), to Auburn University where she received her bachelor's degree in Science and Literature in 1945.

Between college and marriage, Mrs. Lodge was a Danforth Graduate Fellow working with the college chaplain at the Cedar Falls State College, Iowa; worked in the Alabama Department of Welfare in Bay Minette; and worked as a student chaplain at the Church of the Holy Innocents in Auburn.

Mrs. Lodge met John R. Lodge of South Pittsburg, Tennessee, in 1943 when he was in the Army Specialized Training Program at Auburn University. They were married on June 12, 1948. Thereafter they lived in Sewanee, Tennessee where Mr. Lodge finished college and then attended seminary at the University of the South. Mrs. Lodge cared for their growing family as Mr. Lodge served as a rector or associate rector of Episcopal churches in Athens, Tennessee; Wrangell, Alaska; Nashville, Tennessee; Atmore, Alabama; and Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia. In 1972, when Mr. Lodge became Secretary-Treasurer of Lodge Manufacturing Company, Mrs. Lodge and her husband moved to Lookout Mountain, Georgia, where they lived until they moved to South Pittsburg in 1982. Mr. Lodge died in 1995. Throughout these relocations, Mrs. Lodge raised her four children and served her husband, extended family, church, and community with steadfast love. In all the places she lived, Mrs. Lodge volunteered in many capacities in Episcopal churches, hospitals, and nursing homes.

Mrs. Lodge is survived by brother Husky Kirkwood of Roamer's Roost and sister Miriam Ann Kirkwood Syler of West Point, Georgia. Also surviving are two half-brothers, J. Skipper 'Skippy' Kirkwood of Lafayette, Alabama, and T. Henry Kirkwood of Waynesboro, Mississippi, the children of their father's third wife, Mittie Skipper. Mrs. Lodge also leaves behind four children, J. Richard Lodge, Jr. (Virginia) of Nashville, Henry W. Lodge (Donna) of South Pittsburg, Sarah A. Lodge Frulla of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and David M. Lodge (Andrea) of South Bend, Indiana, and nine grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00am on Tuesday, August 18th at Christ Church Episcopal in South Pittsburg. Visitation will be 5:00 to 8:00pm on Monday, August 17th at Christ Church. Memorial contributions in lieu of flowers may be made to Christ Church (P.O. Box 347, South Pittsburg, TN 37380), Hospice of Chattanooga or a charity of your choice.