Evelyn Ruth Patterson

Evelyn Ruth Patterson, 77, of Carmel, Indiana, passed away on October 28, 2025. She was born on October 4, 1948, in Rock River, Ohio, to parents, Paul G. Strom and Norma C. (Moe) Strom.

For her undergraduate degree, she attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa and majored in Mathematics. During her senior year, she served as an intern student teacher in the Minneapolis school system, teaching high school students for a semester at Hopkins High School. Upon graduation, she married her college sweetheart, Dick Patterson and started a family having her son Drew on February 15, 1971, and daughter Dayna on November 13, 1972. She was a stay-at-home mom for a few years and returned to school for her MBA at the University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP). While attending UTEP, she completed an undergraduate degree in Accounting and earned her CPA. Shortly thereafter, she was hired at KPMG, one of the then Big Six accounting firms. Finally, she completed her education by obtaining a PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. Evelyn was an accomplished co-author of 14 publications in highly rated accounting journals. She has been widely viewed as one of the top auditing theorists in the world. She had a unique ability to inject magic into the mundane. She took everyday auditing issues and then re-examined them in ways that provided novel and important insights. Evelyn brought that same spirit of innovation to her teaching by using her research insights about fraud detection and deterrence to explain how accountants serve to reduce fraud.

Not only did she excel in her career and education, but she was the matriarch of her family. She always made Thanksgiving and particularly Christmas very special for everyone. Thanksgiving was always the preparation for Christmas. Evy and her mom would bake traditional Scandinavian Christmas cookies such as sandbakkels, chocolate covered spritz, and krumkake while listening to Christmas music. She would spend hours planning the best presents to get for her family as well as putting together a fabulous turkey dinner. As she became a grandma, she organized large family gatherings which included her brothers, David and Paul, along with their families in her home. The family watched movies and football, played Shanghai rummy, ate pumpkin pie and decorated the Christmas tree. Everyone enjoyed spending time together looking forward to each Thanksgiving.

As Christmas approached, Evy was filled with joy to spend this time with her family. On Christmas eve, she and her mother would prepare a special Christmas dinner, read verses from the Bible, sing carols, and open presents afterward. Then, the family would attend a special Christmas service that concluded by singing Silent night together with lit candles. Upon returning home, her kids Drew and Dayna had to go to bed so Santa could deliver Christmas presents. On Christmas morning, unwrapped Santa gifts were placed under the tree. Drew and Dayna popped out of bed as soon as the sun came up to check out their Santa loot. One year, Santa placed an Atari game system under the tree on Christmas morning, and they played space invaders all day and ate a huge bag of M&Ms from their stockings. She always reminded her kids and grandkids that Christmas was not all about the presents but was a celebration of the birth of Christ and how he was born to save all of us from our sins.

Evelyn is survived by her loving husband, Richard “Dick” Patterson; children, Drew Patterson and Dayna and Ron Virtue; grandchildren, Kyle, Amanda and Jack; brothers, Paul Strom and David Strom.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Paul G. Strom and Norma C. Strom.

A memorial service will be held at 2pm on December 18th, 2025 at Our Lady of Peace Chapel at 9001 Haverstick Road, Indianapolis. Flanner Buchanan – Carmel has been entrusted with her arrangements.