Reverend Stoney Rex Patton's faith ended in sight at 12:41 a.m. on February 5, 2023, at the age of 80, at DCH Regional Medical Center. Services will be held at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, in West Blocton, Alabama at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, February 9, 2023. Reverend Thomas Wilson and Reverend Wayne Boman will officiate the services. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church. A graveside service and burial will follow at Big Creek Cemetery in Coker, Alabama at 4:00 p.m. with Skelton Funeral Home of Reform directing.

Stoney Rex Patton was born on July 30, 1942, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to Allen C. Patton and Mary Parsons Patton. He was preceded in death by parents, Allen C. Patton and Mary Parsons Gilliam, brothers, Adrian Patton and David Patton, sister, Helen Patton Blackwell, former wife and mother of Michele, Karen Patton, and wife, Vickey Patton.

He is survived by his sister, Margaret (Ernest) Hartley, by sons, Billy (Renee) Patton and Bobby (Mary) Holman, by daughters, Michele (Steve) Banker and Karen (Wes) Hamby, by granddaughters, Kaila (Cody) Sullivan, Lauryn (Bryan) Roll, and Rebekah McCray, by grandsons, Jason Banker, Josh Hamby, by great-grandson, Caleb Sullivan, by numerous nieces & nephews, and by a host of other friends, family and church family.

He is also survived by his very special friend, that God allowed to be a part of his life for the last year and a half, Ms. Shirley Cook. Thank you, Ms. Shirley, for the joy that you brought to our Dad and our Pawpaw's life and for all the kindness that you showed to him throughout your special friendship. He really enjoyed the time spent with you and he thought so very much of you. We know that you thought a lot of him as well. Our hearts ache for you as much as for ourselves. You will see him again one day!

Pallbearers will be Ronnie Patton, Barry Patton, Tim Patton, Stephen Patton, Robert Patton, and Ronny Channell. Honorary pallbearers are his doctors from the Manderson Cancer Center, his wonderful nursing staff from the Floor 1 Medical Intensive Care Unit, his Mt. Moriah church family, David Snow & employees of South's Finest Meats, friends and neighbors of the Hazelhurst Community in Cottondale, Mr. John Pritchett, Mr. David Scott, and Mr. Cullen Williams.

Stoney Rex Patton served in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War Era, where he was a meat-cutter and a cook for his fellow Air Force colleagues. He was one of the world's greatest meat-cutters and meat market managers, served several Baptist churches as their pastor, was a singer of Southern gospel music, and he was an ever-learning student of God's Holy word, the Bible. But more than all these accomplishments, he was a beloved Dad, and grandfather to all his grandchildren.

As far as worldly wealth goes, Stoney Rex Patton had very little, yet it was always enough. When he came into this world on July 30, 1942, he came into it with nothing. When he left this world on February 5, 2023, he left it in the same fashion as to how he first arrived, with nothing. But our Dad and Pawpaw left us all something far greater than worldly goods, he left us his example of how to live as a follower of Christ, and he also left us his wonderful legacy, of which will be hard to duplicate.

Back when there were such things as phonebooks, he always had his name listed in the phonebook with "Reverend" preceding his name. Why? So that the down, the destitute, and the needy could find a "preacher" that was willing to give to them the last dollar that he had to his name, to help them, if they needed it. Not only would he help them, but he ALWAYS shared Jesus with them.

This is not told to put a "feather in his hat" but rather to remind us all, of the legacy that this man of God, who loved his God, leaves behind, for all of us to pattern our own lives by.

He truly lived life by living out the Lord's greatest commandments, found in Matthew 22, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." We continue to be amazed at the people that he loved and that loved him in return. What an impact upon many others that one life for Christ has made.

For those that may not have known, our Dad & Pawpaw was in a battle for the last year or so, with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph node system.

The "world" will say that Stoney Rex Patton lost that fight, but we are here to tell you that he did not. He won! When the last breath left his body here on this earth, his first breath in heaven shouted praises to his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!

Stoney Rex Patton heard the words of the Father, as He said, "Well done, my Son, thou good and faithful servant, come on in! You have been faithful in a few things during your short time on the earth, now I will make you ruler over many!"

Yes, he won, there is no doubt that he won! Hallelujah, Praise be unto our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, he won!

Psalms 116:15 tells us that "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Our Lord God saw our Dad and Pawpaw through that "Precious" moment and for that we praise Him!

At the very moment that he drew his last breath and his heart beat it's last beat, a single, solitary tear rolled down his cheek from the corner of his right eye. Whenever he got happy, he always cried. God allowed him to send us one last sign to let us know that he was in the Lord's presence, that he was finally at home.

We will grieve, in our loss, but not like those who have no hope! Our hope is that "Dad, Pawpaw, we will see you across that river someday... someday soon!"

In lieu of flowers, if you so choose our family requests that a donation be made to the American Cancer Society, or to the Gideon's International, so that bibles can be placed in his remembrance, in the hope that someone else might come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior.