Patricia (Patty) Rude, age 58, passed away September 24th. Patty was born in Waterloo, Iowa where she grew up and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa earning a degree in American Studies. She worked for 13 years at the Waterloo Courier as a copy editor, before moving to Virginia to be closer to her future husband and working as an editor for Crosswalk.com. 

Patty and Dennis married in the fall of 1997 and settled into the Northern Virginia area. In 2002, Ethan was born and Patty was able to stay at home and raise him and his sister, Megan who followed in 2005.  When the children were in middle school at Covenant Christian Academy, Patty began teaching U.S. History, Civics, and Journalism and continued until 2022.