Obituary of Patricia Bingham

Long time island resident Patricia Ann Bingham passed of natural causes on May 1 at age 87 in her Sun City home where she had lived since 1998. Preceded in death by husband Robert Bingham and her two brothers David and Richard Beaty. She is survived by her four children- Glenn (Gail) Sandmeyer of Fayetteville, TN; Susan (Tim) Cosh of Bluffton, SC; Kurt (Sally) Komanowski of Palm Coast, FL; and Amy Steinmetz of Charlotte, NC. Seven grandchildren, Nathan, Noah, Ryan, Kyle, RJ, Alyson, Sara and six great grandchildren Aubree, Miles, Emma, Charlotte, Madilyn and Elijah. She was a wonderful Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother and will be dearly missed by her children, extended family, and friends.

Pat was born in Georgetown, SC, to John Paul and Hilja Beaty and grew up in Detroit, MI, as her parents both worked for Chrysler. After marrying her high school sweetheart Carl Sandmeyer ('53) who was in the Air Force, they lived in Georgia, Michigan and Alaska where she lost Carl ('58) while he was on a reconnaissance mission over the Aleutian Islands. She moved to California and met her second husband Andrew Komanowski ('59) who was also in the Air Force and later with IBM (aka 'I've Been Moved') and lived in California 2x, Nebraska 3x, New York 1x, Kansas 1x, Ohio 1x and moved to Hilton Head in 1977 after losing Andy to cancer. Prior to moving, she saw an ad for Moss Creek in Golf Week magazine and visited Hilton Head on the annual family Christmas holiday to Florida and bought a lot!

She started her real estate career when living in Sea Pines and Shipyard before moving to Moss Creek. Pat was a founding member of the First Church of Christ Scientist, Hilton Head Island, where she met her husband, Robert Bingham. She moved to Hilton Head Plantation ('82) where she lived until losing Bob to cancer ('95) at which time she moved to Sun City ('98).

Pat was an avid golfer, long time member of the Hilton Head Island Women's Golf Association, Beaufort County Women's Golf Association, Low Country Women's Golf Association, SC Women's Senior Golf Association and Sun City Women's Golf Association. She was quite successful - 4-time Club Champion at Moss Creek, 3-time SCWGA Club Champion, HHI Women's Golf Association Stroke Play Champion, and won multiple Championships at various local, state, and national levels over her 67-year golf career, not to mention 8 holes-in-one along the way!

A memorial service will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, a donation can be made in Patricia’s name to the Christian Science church (General Fund or Christian Science Monitor operating fund) or Christian Science  or the American Junior Golf Associations ACE Grant Fund to support female junior golfers from South Carolina  AJGA