Obituary for Barbara Ann "Bobbie" Sorrill Patterson

Barbara "Bobbie" Sorrill Patterson, age 90, died March 9, 2026 at her home in Asbury Solomons. She has been a resident of Solomons, Maryland since October 2002.

Bobbie was born June 21, 1935, in Newport News, Virginia, to Harold William Sr. and Jule Ella (Ginn) Sorrill. She had one sibling, Harold William Sorrill, Jr. In her childhood and teen years, the family lived in Yorktown, Virginia; Columbia, Mississippi; Carlsbad, New Mexico; Chicago, Illinois (twice), Angie, Louisiana, and Washington, D.C. She graduated from Anacostia High School in Washington, D.C. after attending public schools in New Mexico, Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington, D.C. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carson-Newman College, Jefferson City, Tennessee; a Master of Christian Education degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas; and a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland.

Career wise, she served as:

_ Girls' Auxiliary Director in the Woman's Missionary Union Department of the Missouri Baptist Convention in Jefferson City, Missouri

_ A historian for the National Park Service at Colonial National Historical Park in Yorktown, Virginia; Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro, Tennessee; the Army Combat Arms Development Command Combat Arms Group at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and the Joint Chiefs of Staff at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia.

_ A Christian educator, first as an editor at the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, Tennessee, and thirty-one years as a consultant and manager at the national Southern Baptist Woman's Missionary Union in Birmingham, Alabama., Virginia. She served her final two years on a special assignment in Richmond, Virginia, and retired in August 2000 as an associate executive director.

Bobbie has written extensively: numerous articles for Baptist magazines, WMU manuals, and four books: Annie Armstrong: Dreamer in Action; I Can Have a Part: My Role in Mission Support; Forgiveness: An Act of Grace and Mercy; and The People's History of Asbury~Solomons Island. After retirement she wrote her memoirs and documents about her ancestral paternal and maternal roots, and numerous articles for River Views, the monthly newsletter for her retirement community.

She was a member of Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities and the Phi Kappa Phi Society, and received the Norman W. Cox Award for best article published by the Southern Baptist Historical Society, a Mosaic Missions Award from the Southern Baptist Home Mission Board Language Missions Division, and the Distinguished Award from the Baptist Association of Christian Educators. She was an active member of many Southern Baptist churches during her lifetime, and a member of the Baptist Association of Christian Educators and the Baptist History and Heritage Society.

On August 19, 1991, Bobbie married Arthur Lawrence Patterson, a Baptist minister in Ohio. Art moved to Birmingham, Alabama and pastored two churches before his death on April 17, 1998.

In October 2002, Bobbie moved to Asbury Solomons, a continuing care retirement community in Solomons, Maryland, to be near her brother Harold and his family. She was active on many committees and served as president of the Asbury Solomons Resident Association for two years. She attended the Vesper Service regularly and occasionally gave the morning devotional on the in-house TV channel. She enjoyed reading, writing, music, ancestry, sports, needlework, and card making.

Bobbie was preceded in death by her father, Harold William Sorrill, Sr.; her mother, Jule Ella Ginn Sorrill; her husband, Arthur Lawrence Patterson; her brother, Harold William Sorrill, Jr, and her sister-in-law, Fay Burkes Sorrill. She is survived by three stepdaughters: Nancy Patterson (Neil Farrow), Bowling Green, Ohio; Alicia Cowell (Mike), Mason, Ohio; and Laurie Woods (Corey), Jacksonville, Florida; three step granddaughters: Olivia Cowell, Audrey Woods, and Sydney Woods; a niece, Donna Carnahan, great-niece Jennifer Carnahan and great nephew Aaron Carnahan in California, Maryland; and great niece Ashley Radano, and great-great niece, Ella Radano, in Irwin, Pennsylvania.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at Asbury Solomons on April 18 at 1:00 PM with the Rev. Charles Harrell, Director of Pastoral Care at Asbury Solomons, leading the service. Mrs. Patterson donated her body to the Maryland Anatomy Board. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Asbury Solomons Benevolent Care Fund or the American Bible Society.