Patsy Covey

Patsy (Monroe) Covey went to be with the Lord on Monday, June 8, 2026, at the age of 91. She was born in Wichita, Kansas, on April 14, 1935, the day of the Plains states’ “Black Sunday” dust storm. She lived in Wichita her entire life and graduated from North High School in 1953.

Patsy was employed by Boeing for several years, where she met her late husband, Albert Covey. In the early 1960s, she and her sister-in-law, Floriene Monroe, opened and operated the Crafty Ol’ Owl Shoppe on West Street in Wichita, selling needlework items. Patsy became sole owner and moved the shop to Twin Lakes Shopping Center when it opened in 1965 where it remained until closing several years later.

Patsy was creative and highly skilled at needlework. She was an expert seamstress who made many of her own clothes and crocheted dozens of baby blankets that were donated to new mothers in maternity wards around Wichita. Her nieces still treasure the handmade Barbie doll clothes and the intricate cross-stitch ornaments and pictures she gifted them. She shared her expertise by teaching crochet and needlework through her shop and in community outreach classes at her church.

She was raised in the nurture and admonition of the Lord and turned to Christ in faith at a young age. Over the years, Patsy’s lifelong commitment to West Side Baptist Church, Metropolitan Baptist Church, and Redeemer’s Grace Church included singing in the choir and as a soloist, playing the piano, and participating in numerous other activities.

Patsy was preceded in death by her husband, Albert Covey; her parents, George and Ruby (Comstock) Monroe; her sisters, Mary (Monroe) Dicke, Betty (Monroe) Hummel, and Frances Monroe (who died in infancy); her brothers, G.R. (Bob) Monroe and Edwin Monroe (who died in infancy); and her nephew, David Monroe. She is survived by her nieces, Margaret (Hummel) Short of Bellingham, Washington, Mary Ann (Dicke) McNally of Beaverton, Oregon, Barbara Hummel of Graham, Washington, and Carol Hummel of Kirkland, Washington; and her nephew, Philip Dicke of Kerrville, Texas.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to Redeemer’s Grace Church in Wichita, Kansas.

A celebration of Patsy's life will be 10:00 am, Monday, June 22, 2026 at Culbertson-Smith Mortuary, 115 S. Seneca Street, Wichita, Kansas 67213. A visitation will follow the service.