Patience Hubbard Tinsley

Patience Hubbard Tinsley, widow of Rev. Carroll Tinsley, passed on August 2, 2009. Patience was born to Methodist missionary parents, Rev. Clement and Patience Hubbard, in Lins Brazil, March 18, 1922. After graduating from college, she briefly taught in a high school in southern Brazil. She then decided that she wanted a graduate degree in missionary work in the United States, so that she could come back to Brazil as a missionary. She traveled to Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee to train for church mission work in Brazil. Instead, she met a south Georgia boy, Carroll Tinsley, at a Methodist Youth Conference and they married 3 months later. With her husband, Patience began her mission work: raising 4 sons and being the guiding light for her Methodist minister husband for over 55 years. During their journey together Patience and Carroll not only traveled the Methodist church circuits of south Georgia, but ventured into inner city ministry in Atlanta during their last years in the active ministry. Retirement saw the two of them making 2 trips around the world. Often visiting Elderhostels, they visited New Zealand, Russia, India, China, most of the European nations and numerous countries in between. Her most treasured trip was back to Brazil a few years before her husband’s death, to visit the school founded by her parents, which now includes a university. The high point of that trip was a visit to the school in which she taught after graduation from college and a visit to the nearby Iguassu waterfalls. She would often introduce herself by saying: “My name is Patience, but I am not patient.” Her patience was ever present when she handled the scheduling for students at Brown High School in the 1970s, when she ventured back into the education field before her husband retired. Her patience, although not obvious to her, was obvious to those who loved and knew her. Patience was a voracious reader of both fiction and non-fiction, sometimes reading 4 to 5 books a week. Her influence on her sons in this area is shown in the number of books they keep on hand to read and their fields of work. She was fluent in 5 languages, yet would often revert to Portuguese when she could not think of the word in English, explaining “that’s my first language and I can verbalize best in it.” Of course, as a “preacher’s wife” she played the piano and sang in the choir, which meant she had to keep a sharp eye on her sons left to create problems in the church pews. Patience left her legacy with her 4 sons, Bill (and Anna) of Roswell, David (and Virginia) of Cumming, Tom (and Teresa) of Temple, and Jim (and Mandy) of Milton; her 10 grandchildren, Joanna Vagner (and Oliver), Tori Tinsley, Kristen Brewick, Jackie Tinsley, Christa Tinsley, Ben Tinsley, Dan Tinsley, Jennings Tinsley, Charles Tinsley and Amanda Tinsley; and 2 great grandchildren, Jackson Vagner and Anna Vagner. She is survived by her sister Anita Kenworthy of Carrollton and her sister-in-law Virginia Hubbard of Decatur. After Carroll’s death, Patience was a resident at Merrill Gardens (Roswell) and Sunrise at Ivey Ridge (Alpharetta). Visitation with the family will be at Northside Chapel (12050 Crabapple Rd., Roswell) on Sunday, August 9 from 3 to 8 P.M and a Memorial Service will be held 10 A.M. on Monday, August 10 at Northside Chapel, with Dr. Don Martin of Alpharetta United Methodist Church officiating. Burial will be at a later date in the Tinsley plot in Oglethorpe, Georgia. Memorial donations can be made to the North Georgia Housing and Homeless Council, 4511 Jones Bridge Circle, Norcross GA 30092, or www.nghhc.org.

Patience Hubbard Tinsley

March 18, 1922 - August 2, 2009