Barbara Joan

Pace Gerald

Long time Sweetwater resident, Barbara Joan Pace Gerald passed away in Sweetwater on Thursday, August 3, 2023.

Barbara was born in Atlanta, Georgia on May 11, 1935. She attended the University of Miami and was a flight attendant for Delta Airlines based in Dallas, Texas. In the 1950s she met James Robert "Jimmy" Pace of Sweetwater, who was then attending the Baylor Dental School in Dallas. They married in 1955 and after Jimmy graduated from dental school they moved back to Sweetwater. The couple had four children, Virginia Paige Pace Allen of Dallas, James Tann Pace of Flower Mound, Merry Laine Pace Wetsel of Sweetwater and Robert Dillard Pace of Dallas. Barbara and Jimmy Pace resided in Sweetwater until his death on February 14, 1997. She married Patrick Nuckles Gerald of Sweetwater who was the former president of First National Bank of Sweetwater.

She is survived by her four children named above, one stepdaughter, Laura Lynn Gerald Hart of Dallas, and the late Patrick Sprain Gerald of Midland, as well as eleven grandchildren, Dr. Zachary Wetsel of Boston, Massachusetts, Quentin Wetsel, J.D. of Lubbock, Kurt Wetsel of Dallas, Dillard Pace of College Station, Lane Pace of Flower Mound, Finn Pace of Dallas, Britton Pace of Dallas, Lenyx Pace of Dallas, Catherine Gerald of Houston, Victoria Gerald of Houston, Harrison Hart of Dallas, and Hamilton Hart of Dallas.

She was preceded in death by her father, Albert Powell in 1978, her mother, Madeline Robertson Dodson in 2000 and her stepfather, Ralph Coe Dodson in 2012.

Barbara was a lifelong, avid member of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. She loved gardening, reading, the Texas Rangers, and being with her children and grandchildren.

Services will be 2:00 P.M. Sunday, August 6, 2023 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church with Father Bryan Callan officiating. Inurnment will follow in the St. Stephen's Episcopal Church Columbarium under the direction of McCoy Funeral Home. There will be a Celebration of Life Reception at the Sweetwater Country Club after services at Saint Stephens Episcopal Church Sunday afternoon.

In lieu of flowers, donations would be appreciated to St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.