Mentor, statesman. Longtime legislator Kay Patterson took down the flag and left great impact

A selfless and influential mentor. A true, valiant servant and soldier for the Lord. A unique, yet phenomenal orator. A lover of jazz music and colorful language, is what friends, family, students and others said about former state Sen. Kay Patterson, 93, who died Dec. 13.

His legacy and impact was far reaching in the Palmetto State, and will not be forgotten, family and supporters said Friday at Patterson’s funeral in Brookland Baptist Church in West Columbia.

The longtime lawmaker was honored by warm memories of him, jokes about his wit and candor and stories of Patterson’s life and influence on others’ life.

Patterson had a bachelor’s degree from Allen University and served two years in U.S. Marine Corps. He represented Richland County as a member of the state House from 1975 through 1985 in District 73 and in the state Senate from 1985 through 2007 in District 19. Before becoming a lawmaker, he was a janitor at the State House and a middle school teacher for 14 years.

More than 200 people came to his funeral, and among them were former S.C. Gov. Jim Hodges, state Reps. Todd Rutherford and Gilda Cobb Hunter and Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann. Patterson’s coffin was displayed in front of more than a dozen bouquets of poinsettias. Red roses lined the top.

State Rep. Leon Howard said Patterson influenced him as his seventh-grade history teacher.

Patterson would walk to school with his students, Howard said, sometimes even raising questions from “elderly ladies in their yard,” about him being “too big” to go to middle school.

Rev. Nelson B. Rivers said “when you first meet Kay, you can be intimidated, because Kay didn’t seem to have a place where he could cuss and not cuss. He just cussed anywhere he wanted to.”

Rivers recalled Patterson learning someone attempting to take credit for removing the Confederate flag off the State House dome.

“He ran up to me and said ‘Nelson. .. you got to write your book, I’ve got to write my book,’ ” Rivers said. “He wanted the record to reflect that without Kay Patterson, that flag would still be flying on that dome.”

“Kay Patterson did his best, and he did it so well that no one in heaven or hell could ever erase what Kay Patterson did, because he didn’t just talk that talk, he walked that walk,” Rivers said.

U.S. Rep James Clyburn left Washington, D.C., at 2 a.m. Friday morning to be driven to Columbia as no flights would have made it on time. The only way he would’ve miss it is if he was in a casket himself, he said.

“I loved Kay Patterson,” Clyburn said emotionally. “Kay Patterson meant the world to me. And I’m here today because he meant the world to my entire family.”

Clyburn said if it were not for Patterson, he would never have cast his first vote.

“I don’t remember the day or time I intersected with Kay Patterson, but I knew I was meeting somebody very special,” Clyburn said.

Patterson’s daughter, Pamela Lackey, said Clyburn was one of the last to see her father alive. He held on, she said.

“My daddy was a simple man,” Lackey said. Patterson’s dream was pursue music and have a band, she said. But he knew he couldn’t make a living she added, so he went into teaching and education instead. He still loved music, specifically jazz. On his last days, Lackey would play jazz for him, as it soothed him, Lackey said.

Lackey had asked her father if he wanted to seek higher office. No, he wanted to be a big fish in a small pond, she said.

Before he died, Lackey told her father he fought the cancer the best he could. She said she told her father if he had to go, it’s OK to go. Two minutes after she told him, he died.

“He cared about the common man, the elderly, the lady across the street. He loved y’all. Well, well done,” Lackey said, looking at the coffin her father was in.

This story was originally published December 20, 2024 at 4:50 PM with the headline "Mentor, statesman. Longtime legislator Kay Patterson took down the flag and left great impact."