Patricia Ann “Patti” Ballas passed away peacefully on September 14, 2026, after spending the final weeks of

her life receiving hospice care at University Health Lakewood Medical Center in Kansas City, Missouri. She

was 80 years old.

Patti was born on March 28, 1946, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and grew up in Framingham. Although life

eventually took her far from New England, she never lost her unmistakable Boston accent—something that

remained a special part of Patti throughout her life.

Despite Patti’s intellectual disability, she persevered and was proudly independent. She met obstacles head-

on. From Massachusetts to New Mexico, to Missouri, she collected supporters and friends to help her thrive

and claim her individuality.

In 1988, Patti moved with her parents, Peter and Dolores Ballas, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. She would call

Santa Fe home for nearly 30 years. During those years, Patti lived in various apartments and group homes,

but spent much of that time in the casita on her parents’ property, where she could enjoy some independence

while still having her family close by.

In June 2017, Patti moved to Kansas City to live with her brother Chris (Chippie) and his wife, Dianne. She

remained in their home through January 2020, with Chris providing her full-time care. In February 2020,

Patti moved to University Health Lakewood, where Unit 1 South became her home for more than six years.

During the final weeks of her life, she received hospice care on 2 North.

Those who knew Patti will remember a woman with an infectious laugh and a personality that was entirely

her own.

Patti loved the color purple. She loved having her nails done and wearing lots of jewelry. She followed her

favorite soap operas, rarely missed Entertainment Tonight, enjoyed People magazine and had special places

in her heart for Ricky Martin and Tom Selleck.

Patti also had a remarkable memory for birthdays. She knew the birthdays of seemingly everyone in her

immediate and extended family by heart—and somehow managed to remember the birthdays of an

impressive collection of movie stars and celebrities as well. If you wanted to know when someone was born,

there was a very good chance Patti knew.

She was proud of both sides of her family's heritage. Her father, Peter, was Greek, while her mother, Dolores,

was from Winslow, Arizona, and came from a Hispanic background. Patti loved speaking Greek and Spanish

words and phrases, often delivered with the Boston accent she never lost.

One of Patti's most enduring traditions began in 1972, when she learned how to “make hangers.” She would

tape two wire clothes hangers together with masking tape and carefully wrap them in different colors of

yarn.

For more than five decades, Patti made those hangers.

She gave them as gifts for birthdays, anniversaries, Christmas and other special occasions. But you didn't

have to be family—or even someone Patti had known for very long—to receive one. She happily gave her

hangers to friends, relatives, caregivers and even people she had just met.

It was simply Patti's way of giving.

Today, many of those colorful hangers remain in the closets of people whose lives crossed paths with hers—a

simple, handmade reminder of Patti and the joy she found in giving something she had made herself.

Patti was preceded in death by her beloved parents, Peter N. Ballas and Dolores A. Ballas.

She is survived by her brothers, Nicholas Ballas and his wife, Cindy, and Chris “Chippie” Ballas and his wife,

Dianne VanBallas; her nieces, Jessica Hood and her husband, Robert Hood, and Misha Hesse and her partner,

Struen; and the next generation of a family whose birthdays Patti undoubtedly knew by heart: Jamie, Callie,

Elias, Bodhi and Fin.

Patti's family extends its heartfelt gratitude to the nurses, caregivers, and staff of 1 South at University Health

Lakewood, who cared for Patti and made Lakewood her home for more than six years, as well as the staff of 2

North and her hospice team, who provided compassionate care and comfort during the final weeks of her life.

The kindness, patience, and dignity shown to Patti will always be remembered by her family.

Patti's life was shaped by family—from her childhood in Massachusetts, to nearly three decades in Santa Fe,

to her years living with Chris and Dianne in Kansas City, and finally to the caregivers and staff at University

Health Lakewood who became an important part of her world.

A Celebration of Life honoring Patti will be held in Kansas City, Missouri, with details to be announced. Patti's

remains will later be interred at Santa Fe National Cemetery in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with her parents, Peter

and Dolores, fulfilling the family's wishes that they be together.

Patti was loved, she was cared for, and she will be deeply missed. And somewhere in the closets of the many

people whose lives she touched, a colorful yarn-wrapped hanger will continue to tell a little piece of her

story.