Rick and Patsy Montgomery were pictured during a trip to Roatán, an island in the Carribean off the northern coast of Honduras, with their friends. The couple from Sun City Hilton Head died in a boat crash on the waters of Skull Creek the night of June 27, 2025. Loved ones remember them for their kind spirits and deep devotion to their faith.
Courtesy of James Duncan
In the 1960s, a young man waited by the window. He watched hopefully, waiting to catch his first glimpse of the woman he’d be introduced to for their blind date. At the time, he was serving in the Navy, and a friend of his was dating a woman who had a friend that they wanted the man to meet. He couldn’t have known then that the woman standing in the driveway would one day become his partner in life — sharing his name, their daughter, Karen, and nearly 55 years of marriage.
The then-strangers first names were Rick and Patsy and they would one day become the couple known as the Montgomerys.
Late in the evening on June 27, Rick and Patsy — 76 and 73 years old, respectively — died tragically in a boating accident on Skull Creek. The couple had called Bluffton home for the past seven years as residents of the Sun City community. The accident and loss shook the Lowcountry, especially those close to the couple.
The Montgomerys were described by loved ones as a couple who always found simple delight in life and in one another, who always looked out for those who needed it most and who lived their days embodying the values of their faith.
“Their love and devotion for each other was inspiring,” wrote Tina Waters, a local friend of the Montgomerys. “They lived a life rooted in love and the Lord and found great joy in life together. They will be missed by all who knew and loved them.”
Rick and Patsy Montgomery traveled with their friends, James and Daphne Duncan, to Roatán, an island in the Caribbean off the northern coast of Honduras. Courtesy of James Duncan
‘One of the most giving couples we have ever met’
Patsy grew up in Portsmouth, Virginia. Rick grew up in Concord, North Carolina, a city north of Charlotte.
After marrying in October 1970, the couple settled in Concord, where they spent most of their married life together. In the years before retiring to Bluffton — Patsy from Duke Energy and Rick from a career in the swimming pool business — they lived near Lake Norman and later in Salisbury, North Carolina, for more than a decade.
Their move to Bluffton began with a phone call.
James Duncan, a local construction company owner, recalled Rick calling to ask about building a retirement home in Riverbend, a neighborhood in Sun City. That first conversation led to a friendship. James and his wife, Daphne, grew close with Rick and Patsy, sharing time together around the Lowcountry and eventually taking trips together as couples.
“Patsy and Rick were one of the most giving couples we have ever met, always willing to help someone,” Duncan wrote. “We feel very blessed to have had them as friends for all these years in this lifetime.”
He shared stories of their generosity — of how the Montgomerys consistently opened their hearts and their home to others, whether they were longtime friends or near strangers.
One such person was a man they met while having pavers installed at their home. Nearly two years ago, the man was diagnosed with jaw cancer. Though the cancer was removed, his health continued to decline. With his family unavailable during the day, the Montgomerys stepped in, Duncan said. For nearly five months, they took him into their home and cared for him when his family was not able to.
On another occasion, while vacationing in Roatán — a Caribbean island off the coast of Honduras — the Montgomerys befriended a young man working at the inn where they were staying. The friendship didn’t end with the trip. Rick and Patsy kept in touch with him, eventually returning to the island to surprise him with a new moped so he could get around more easily.
“The young man was actually crying,” Duncan wrote. “He was so happy.”
‘The happiest they’d ever been’
The Montgomerys’ nephew, Daniel Barnhardt, was two years old when Patsy and Rick got married. Some of his fondest memories with his aunt and uncle were spending weekends, vacations and summers at their house when he was a child, he said.
It was there that his uncle taught him how to drive a riding lawn mower, there he would run and hide behind his aunt’s legs if his uncle ever becametoo stern, there he took his first trips to a local amusement park. On Saturday nights, his uncle always tossed an extra steak on the grill — just for the two of them to snack on while they cooked. His stomach was always full by the time they sat down for dinner. His uncle would just wrap his steak up for the next time his nephew was hungry.
From his uncle, Barnhardt learned the value of hard work; from his aunt, the importance of keeping your word.
He said that without Patsy and Rick, his childhood would have looked very different. During difficult times in his childhood, they were more than family — they were like second parents to him.
His aunt and uncle, he said, were not afraid to talk about their faith as Christians. Friends of the couple, and even their worship leader, Pastor Josh Stone of Community Bible Church, emphasized that the couple were “examples of Christ’s love manifesting.”
This was seen in their love not only for those around them, but for each other.
Stone recalled going on a tour of Israel in 2023 with a group of church members, including the Montgomerys. While recently looking through photos from the tour, he noted that in each picture, even casual shots where they appeared in the background, the Montgomerys’ arms were always wrapped around each other.
Patsy and Rick Montgomery pose for a photo while on a tour of Israel in 2023. Pastor Josh Stone
But like many couples who had spent a near lifetime together, their nephew said, they also held each other accountable. His aunt never hesitated to set the record straight when Rick’s memory faltered.
“She would tell him in a heartbeat that that wasn’t the way it happened,” Barnhardt said, chuckling. Rick was just as quick to remind her in return, he said.
Barnhardt said his uncle often told him on their daily phone calls how deeply content he and Patsy were with their life in Bluffton — spending their days traveling, cruising around in their golf cart with their dogs and enjoying time on the water in their boat.
“The happiest they’d ever been was riding that boat back,” he said, referencing the night of June 27. “I can guarantee you that.”
Community Bible Church will host a funeral service for the couple at 10:30 a.m. July 11 at the church’s main campus at 638 Parris Island Gateway. Their burial will take place at Beaufort National Cemetery following the service at 12:00 p.m.
This story was originally published July 8, 2025 at 11:48 AM.
Chloe Appleby is a general assignment reporter for The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette. A North Carolina native, she has spent time reporting on higher education in the Southeast. She has a bachelor’s degree in English from Davidson College and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
