Patricia Ann (Menegat) Kimbrel

Patricia Ann Kimbrel

August 11, 1935 – December 29, 2019

A memorial gathering to celebrate the life of Patricia “Pat” Kimbrel, 84, of North Bend, will be held and announced later in February. A private inurnment will be held at Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in Coos Bay.

Pat was born on August 11, 1935 in North Bend, Oregon to Peter Joseph Menegat and Freda ( Lulman ) Menegat of Lakeside. The oldest daughter of four, she kept a tight and lasting bond with her sisters Louise Wilder, Florence Frishman and Kathy Reimers throughout her life. She passed away peacefully on December 29, 2019 in Coos Bay.

Pat grew up on her parent’s dairy farm on Lindross Arm of North Tenmile Lake in Lakeside. Graduating from Lakeside school in 8th grade, Pat attended North Bend High School, graduating in the class of 1953. While in high school, she met her future husband Frank Kimbrel while he was “holding up the wall” as she put it, at a dance at Cedar Grove where Bay Area Hospital now stands.

Following high school Pat attended Western Oregon University in Monmouth in order to become an elementary school teacher. Returning to North Bend, Pat got a teaching job at Charleston Grade School teaching fourth grade and later fifth grade.

When Frank Kimbrel returned from the Army he bought a 1957 Chevy, and he and Pat were married in Coeur d’ Alene, Idaho in 1958. The newlyweds bought a house in North Bend and lived there for the rest of their lives.

Pat taught school until her two children, Peter and Shawn, came along. Although she continued to substitute teach at times in the North Bend School District, Pat spent most of her time with her family, taking the kids on family picnics with her parents and sisters, going camping with Frank and the kids at Eagle Rock, watching Peter’s baseball games and rooting on Shawn at her basketball games.

Besides spending time with her family, Pat volunteered at the North Bend Library shelving books and also at the Sunset School Library where her sister Kathy was Librarian. Pat volunteered at the North Bend Library for many years until she was forced to stop because of a hip operation. She loved books and reading, especially mysteries. As a girl she would pick fern fronds to earn money, but her mother would often catch her sitting in the woods reading a book instead of picking fronds.

Pat also enjoyed attending community concerts, going to Little Theater on the Bay and watching musicals – Jane Powell and Elizabeth Taylor were her favorite movie stars. Pat was also a fixture at the North Bend Swimming Pool’s adult swim. For exercise, she would swim laps several times per week and she had many good friends she could visit with in the locker room. She had many friends- swimming friends, friends she went to lunch with and friends she talked with on the phone.

Pat was a good wife, a good mother, a good friend, a good sister and a good neighbor. She was a maker of delicious spiced nuts and ambrosia salad. She was always positive and she had a great sense of humor. She was always cracking jokes and she was always the life of the party.

Pat is survived by her children, Peter Kimbrel and his wife Andrea of Yoncalla and Shawn Johnson of Cottage Grove; ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren; and her sisters, Louise Wilder and Florence Frishman of Lakeside.

Pat was preceded in death by her parents, Peter and Freda Menegat; her sister Kathy; and her husband Frank Kimbrel.

Friends and family are encouraged to sign the online guestbook at www.coosbayareafunerals.com and www.theworldlink.com. Arrangements are under the care of North Bend Chapel, 541-756-0440.

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