Monument for Bill and Carrin Patman, 2010
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Austin, Texas State Cemetery, Section:Republic Hill, Section 2 (C2)
Row:B Number:18, 2010

For the late William Neff "Bill" Patman (1927-2008), Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Texas' 14th District (1981-1985), Texas State Senator (1961-1981) and his surviving wife Carrin Mauritz Patman, a headstone was designed based on a sculpture (artist unknown) that served as a background to a series of portraits of Bill, a sculpture of which Carrin Patman was very fond. Carrin likened this sculpture to her late husband's character: determined and forthright.

The design for their joint headstone for the Texas State Cemetery, "the final resting place of Governors, Senators, Legislators, Congressmen, Judges and other legendary Texans who have made the state what it is today", sought to adapt these character traits into a monument that on the one hand conformed to the cemetery regulations and on the other hand is dynamically balanced while also relating to the other nearby horizontal headstones. The various openings are intended to provide glimpses of the surroundings and to ensure that the monument does not appear to be overwhelming.

The small niche on the front left hand side is a place for a candle. The two lateral abstracted vertical pieces may be considered to represent two figures both protecting the headstone as well as rising upwards.

The monument is made of Texas Red Granite, the same material of which the Texas State Capitol was built.