Patricia Ann “Patti” Benitz
1953-2013

Patricia Ann “Patti” Benitz, 59, St. Joseph, Missouri passed away Monday, September 2, 2013 at Shady Lawn Living Center surrounded by family and friends.

Patti was a wife, mother, and community servant, who was born November 24, 1953, to Corbett “Corky” and Virginia (Jenkins) Cundiff in St. Joseph, Missouri.

She graduated from Lafayette High School in St. Joseph in 1972 and attended Missouri Western State College before taking a full-time position with American Family Insurance, and later the St. Joseph School District.
On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1973, she married Wesley E. Benitz, also of St. Joseph. He survives of the home.
Patti and Wes welcomed son, Brandon, in 1976 and lived in St. Joseph until 1977, when Wes received an appointment to the Missouri State Highway Patrol, transferring them to Unionville, Missouri.

She became a self-taught transcriptionist and medical secretary for the Putnam County Memorial Hospital. In 1979, they welcomed daughter, Jennifer. Later Patti served as a volunteer youth softball coach.
In 1986, Wes was promoted and transferred to Brookfield, Missouri. In addition to her positions at McCullough Trailer Company and Walsworth Yearbooks, Patti took an active role in the community by organizing the craft and concessions fair at the Brookfield Summer Fun Days.

Wes was promoted and transferred back to Unionville in 1990 and Patti became the secretary at the Farm Bureau Insurance. In 1992, she was elected South Ward Alderman for the City of Unionville, serving on the City Council where she was instrumental in bringing the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to Unionville.

Wes was again promoted and transferred to Lee’s Summit, Missouri in 1995 and Patti became a self-taught legal secretary, working for a number of law firms in the Kansas City area and for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

Patti and Wes returned to St. Joseph in 2003, where she worked for several legal offices before she retired.
Patti was a talented counted stitch artist, an avid history buff, and loved to travel. She visited such places as Mount Rushmore, Little Bighorn Battlefield and National Monument, Gettysburg National Military Park and Cemetery, various Civil War sites in Virginia and Maryland, whale-watching in Maine, and took six cruise trips with her husband in her lifetime.

Survivors: husband, Wes; parents, Corky and Gin Cundiff; son, Brandon Benitz (Angie), Kearney, Nebraska; daughter, Jennifer Paul (Robert), St. Joseph, Missouri; and brother, Mike Cundiff (Debbie), St. Joseph, Missouri.

Memorial Service: 3:00 P.M. Thursday, Wyatt Park Baptist Church. Inurnment Memorial Park Cemetery. The family will receive friends 6:00 to 8:00 P.M. Wednesday, Meierhoffer Funeral Home & Crematory. For those wishing to make a contribution, the family suggests they be made to Wyatt Park Baptist. Online guest book and obituary at www.meierhoffer.com.