Pat Wardlaw

Patrick Newton Wardlaw

August 3, 1928 – January 1, 2025 

Pat Wardlaw, 96, peacefully passed away at home in Waco surrounded by family on Wednesday, January 1st. He was a proud and loving husband, father of three, grandfather of six and great-grandfather of eighteen. 

Funeral Mass will be held at 10:00 AM on Tuesday, January 7th at Saint Louis Catholic Church, 2001 North 25th Street, Waco with burial following at Oakwood Cemetery. Please join the family for Visitation at 6:00 PM, Monday, January 6th in the chapel of Wilkirson-Hatch-Bailey Funeral Home, 6101 Bosque Boulevard, Waco followed by the Rosary.

Born Patrick Newton Wardlaw on August 3, 1928, in Del Rio, Texas to Newton Jasper Wardlaw and Willie Alice Mapes Wardlaw, he grew up in the wilds of Val Verde County, on the edge of the Edwards Plateau. Pat loved hunting the canyons and fishing and swimming in the Devils River. Life there began to shape the strong ethics and leadership qualities that guided him through later life. For those reasons, his father often called him “Sergeant.” Hunting on the day Pearl Harbor was attacked, the thirteen-year-old knew that one day he wanted to serve his country. Three years later, with his father working out-of-state for the war effort, his mother sent young Pat off to boarding school at Subiaco Academy in the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks. Subiaco was run by Benedictine Monks and his mother secretly hoped he might choose the priesthood one day. He did not and his descendants are pleased by his decision. While there, young ladies from nearby Saint Scholastica Monastery for girls in Fort Smith would often stage musical performances at the very isolated boy’s campus. On one such occasion, Pat saw and heard young Victoria Worden singing a solo of “The Magnificat.” He was spellbound and, despite the best discouraging efforts of the Saint Scholastica sisters, their romance blossomed. 

Graduating in 1946, Pat reluctantly went home to Del Rio, but soon, along with a handful of close friends, hitchhiked to San Antonio and joined the United States Marine Corps. After brief Military Police duty in San Francisco, he was shipped to the Panama Canal Zone and the 15th Naval District. There, he served guard duty on-board ships transversing the canal. During off duty times, he sometimes participated in “friendly” games of chance with his fellow Marines. After one particular evening of cards, his Irish luck won him an extremely large pot. He soon contacted Vicki, “his heart and soul; the light of his life,” back in Fort Smith and asked for her hand. She accepted without hesitation. With his recently won fortune, Pat wired her the travel expenses needed for her long journey to Panama. They married on July 6, 1948, at Balboa’s Saint Mary’s Church and their daughter, Rebecca was born there in 1949. After Pat’s USMC days ended, the little family relocated to Del Rio and then to Waco, Texas, where he worked with his father in a sawmill and later pumped gas at a local station while attending Baylor University with assistance from the GI Bill. Their son, Michael, was born in 1951. After several years working in the building and remodeling trade, they lived for a short while in Marshall, Texas, where their son, William was born in 1955. The family of five permanently moved back to Waco in 1961 where another opportunity soon arose.

In 1961, his experience in building led to an easy move into insurance claims adjusting. Pat excelled in that rapidly growing field and quickly developed a reputation for honesty and expertise. Four years later he founded Wardlaw Claims Service. Still a leader in the insurance claims adjusting industry today after almost sixty years, Wardlaw Claims now handles catastrophic and day-to-day claims in all fifty states. Retiring from active management in 1993, Pat continued thereafter as consultant to the second, third and fourth generations of the family business.

Pat was preceded in death by Vicki, his devoted wife of over 75 years, his parents; sisters, Billye Warner, Ann Estes, and Sitta Rowe, and his beloved son, Mike. He is survived by his daughter, Becky Meadows and husband, Ray of Waco; son, Bill Wardlaw and wife, Kathy of Woodway; daughter-in-law, Susan Wardlaw of Woodway; six grandchildren, Trevor P. Wardlaw and wife, Kemberly of McGregor, Jenny Schornack and husband, Michael of Waco, Cari Wardlaw of Austin, Lori Becker and husband, Jason of Austin, Cody Wardlaw and wife, Allie of Dallas, Chris Wardlaw and wife, Haylie of Waco; eighteen great-grandchildren, Patrick D. Wardlaw, Breyton T. Wardlaw, Victoria E. Wardlaw, Grace A. Weber, Newton B. Schornack, Katie Claire Schornack, Kyle A. Keahey and wife, Donnell, Clayton M. Keahey and wife, Katie G., Jacob S. Becker, Colby W. Becker, Ellie V. Becker, Jillian A. Becker, Peyton C. Wardlaw, Millicent J. Wardlaw, Francis G. Wardlaw, Everett J. Wardlaw, Elwyn M. Wardlaw and Witt M. Wardlaw.

The family wishes to express our deep, heartfelt thanks for the years of loving care provided to our father, grandfather, great-grandfather by Corina Grogan and by three Visiting Angels: Carolyn Hinton, Louella Carter and Jonna DeCuire. 

Pallbearers will be the ten great-grandsons: Patrick D. Wardlaw, Breyton T. Wardlaw, Newton B. Schornack, Kyle A. Keahey, Clayton M. Keahey, Jacob S. Becker, Colby W. Becker, Peyton C. Wardlaw, Everett J. Wardlaw and Witt M. Wardlaw.

Memorials may be made to Subiaco Academy, 405 North Subiaco Avenue, Subiaco, Arkansas 72865 or to Fuzzy Friends Rescue, 6321 Airport Road, Waco, Texas 76708.

The family invites you to share a memory or a special message on Pat's "Tribute Wall" at www.WHBfamily.com.