Working on a painting even the week before her death, vivacious Kansas artist Patricia Ruth (Pudden) Potucek, Hutchinson, 86, died Saturday, March 26, 2011, at Promise Medical Center from complications from cardiac arrest.

Pat was born in rural Cowley County, Kansas, on February 13, 1925, the daughter of Leo and Ruth (Clark) Pudden. She graduated from Arkansas City High School in 1943. Educated at the Kansas City Art Institute after World War II, Pat earned national notoriety early in her professional career for a controversial mural completed for the VFW. As a young woman, she won national awards as Display Decorator for Newman's Department Store in Arkansas City, where she is remembered for her festival floats and art fair participation. She was offered work as a set designer in Hollywood.

She married Charles William Potucek, Jr., in 1949 and continued to study art at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. She followed her husband on his agricultural business career to Tribune, Dodge City, and Garden City, Ks, at which time she was the President of the Southwest Kansas Art Association and won the Kansas Press Woman's Award for Children's Book Illustration for Ida Rath's Carrot of Gold.

Charles (Chuck) and Pat moved to Hutchinson, Kansas, in 1962. Pat worked for Wiley's and Pegues department stores as illustrator and display director. She also contributed illustrations to The Hutchinson News. Chuck was General Manager and Vice President at FarMarCo, a grain marketing company. They divorced in 1972, but remained friends until his death in 2002. Pat was recognized by the National Watercolor Association, Pastel Society of America, and received hundreds of awards for portraiture, murals and still life paintings in many media. Her work with papier mache was documented in national publications and craft books. She was known for her pen and ink illustrations for cookbooks and corporate publications. Her paintings are in the collections of ambassadors and presidents. She won many art awards at the Kansas State Fair beginning with the Best in Show 1950 for an oil portrait of her father entitled Kansas Farmer. She exhibited at the Kansas State Fair regularly. She was a regular exhibitor at the Hutchinson Art Annual Spring Art Fair until 2009. She donated many paintings in support of numerous charitable organizations and schools. She is remembered for an effort to paint whimsical caricatures on fire hydrants to commemorate the American bicentennial. Pat completed more then 250 murals during her lifetime, including major murals located throughout Kansas. She is included in the book Kansas Murals A Traveler's Guide by Lora Jost and Dave Loewenstein. A tour of Pat's murals in Hutchinson has become a popular tourist activity. She was a frequent art instructor for the Leisure Arts Center and Delos Smith Center.

She was a member of the Hutchinson Art Association, Holy Cross Catholic Church, St. Cecelia's Circle, and Reno County Democratic Women's Club. Pat nurtured her six children while contributing her skills as art educator, "chalk-talk" demonstrator, 4-H leader, Boy Scout den mother, Girl Scout troop leader, and PTA President. From her youth as a USO volunteer, she was a life-long dancer. She had many dance partners through the years.

Her parents and her brother, Robert Francis Pudden predeceased Pat.

She is survived by her six children Monica Bryant and her husband Michael, Santa Rosa, Calif.; Marcia Kathleen Streepy and her husband Reverend Robert Shawn, Shawnee, Ks; Lesle Knop and her husband Doug, Paola, Ks.; Scott William Potucek and his wife Anne, Hutchinson; Charles Todd Potucek, Independence, Mo.; and Shannon Elliott and her husband Paul, Kingwood, Texas; and 18 grandchildren: Yvette Hatton, El Cerrito, Calif.; Tyler Bryant, Santa Rosa, Calif.; Jessica Lynn; Prairie Village; Leah Olson, Shawnee; Lauren Frost, Santa Rosa, Calif.; Stephanie Frost, Hillary Carter; Prairie Village; Brodie Knop, Shawnee; Brom Knop, Kansas City, Mo., Cameron Potucek, Nickerson; Rachel Potucek, Los Angeles, Calif.; Rebecca Potucek, Hutchinson; Brock Potucek, Kansas City, Mo., Nathan Henry, Hutchinson; Andy Henry, Chicago, Ill.; Elizabeth Elliott, Dallas, Texas.; Amanda and Alexis Elliott, Kingwood, Texas; and 13 great-grandchildren: Julia, Christopher, Hailey, Nicholas, Richard, Kate, Nora, Leo, Ethan, Beatrix, Greyson, Brexon, Arthur and arriving soon Samantha. Sisters-in-law Marjorie McCauley, Virginia Finley and Rita Miller, and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews, also survive her.

A Service of Remembrance will be Tuesday, March 29, 2011, at 7 p.m. at Elliott Mortuary Chapel, 1219 N. Main Street, Hutchinson. The praying of the Rosary will be Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 2631 Independence Road, Hutchinson, at 1:30 p.m. followed at 2 p.m. with Mass of Christian Burial, the Father Joseph Eckberg, celebrant.

Visitation will be Monday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Elliott Mortuary. Burial will follow in Penwell-Gabel Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hutchinson.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Pat Potucek State Fair Art Award Fund at the Hutchinson Community Foundation, the Holy Cross Catholic Church, Hutchinson, or the Good Samaritan Society, in care of Elliott Mortuary, 1219 N. Main Street, Hutchinson, Kansas 67501.

The family extends its appreciation for the many expressions of sympathy and kindness at her death and for the care received at Promise Medical Regional Medical Center and at Good Samaritan Center.

Visit www.elliottmortuary.com to leave a personal condolence or memory for Pat's family.