Bayou Icon | Leading A Life Of Faith, Resilience And Purpose.

Article By Georgiann Potts
Photography By Kelly Moore Clark

From corporate boardrooms to bestselling books, Patricia’s inspiring journey of overcoming grief and giving hope to others makes her a true symbol of strength in our community.

Patricia Mercer Cameron was asked recently to describe her life story thus far. She replied, “My story is a story of heartbreak, of fear, loss, of questioning God and overcoming obstacles. My story is a story of trust and forgiveness, of hope and joy and laughter. My story is a story of God’s refining grace. Through it all, God has been faithful. He has showered mercy and grace on us. He has given me the ability to take one step at a time, one day at a time, one year at a time and even one obstacle at a time.” 

Patricia possesses a strength that is rare. There are several sources for that strength. One is her lifelong faith. That faith grew as Patricia experienced a series of challenges any one of which might have defeated others. Another is the example that her parents set before her as she was growing up. From them she learned the importance of resilience, optimism, and belief in God.

Born “On the Go”
John W. “Sonny” Mercer grew up in Gilbert, Louisiana. He is the youngest and last living of 10 siblings and a gifted storyteller. Patricia says that her father at 93 still loves to tell stories about the years when he and his siblings were young. Patricia’s mother, Mattie Martin grew up in a suburb of Eros, Louisiana, called Hog Hair. The family lived in a three-room log cabin. Mattie graduated from Eros High School where she played basketball. Patricia describes her mother as “. . . mostly quiet with a strong faith” and says that family meant everything to her.

Patricia’s dad was a construction worker until a serious accident ended that career. She was five when her dad was hurt while building the I-20 bridge from Louisiana to Vicksburg. “He became a double amputee but walked with prosthetic legs for most of my life,” Patricia says. “He now gets around on an electric scooter. After the accident, he worked on water wells and to supplement income, welded BBQ pits and fish cookers and sharpened saw blades for construction managers.” 

Two weeks before Patricia’s mom’s due date to deliver her, the family moved from Oklahoma to Louisiana for work. While on the road moving, Mattie realized in El Dorado that her baby was about to be born. Patricia was born in the hospital there, and the waitresses at the café across the street watched her brother while her dad visited his newborn and wife. Years later Patricia asked her mom what she was doing moving two weeks before her due date. Mattie’s reply? “Because that where the job was.” Mattie also told her daughter that she should have given Patricia “Go” for a middle name since she was born “on the go” and has been on the go ever since.

When she was born, Patricia joined older brother John W. “Wesley” Mercer Jr. who she calls “Bubba.” He is retired and lives in West Monroe. Patricia’s sons call him “Uncle Bubba.” Later a second daughter would follow – Lisa Mercer Mencer. Lisa and her husband, Rich, live in Oklahoma. Patricia remains close to all of her siblings and their children.

Both parents taught their children valuable lessons about working hard and achieving goals. Her dad seldom let anything stop him from what he wanted to do – even after his accident presented challenges. “On one of the trips to LSU in Junior High, we toured the State capitol,” Patricia explains. “I was so excited that I wanted him to see it, too. He walked up all 50 capitol steps on crutches so that he could.”

Patricia’s mother worked from home while her children were young and in school. She was a gifted seamstress and made cheerleader uniforms and pageant dresses as well as all four of Patricia’s prom dresses. While Patricia was a senior in high school, her mom began working for the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Department in criminal records. She excelled and was promoted to head of the department. When she retired after 30 years there, she had earned the title of Captain.

A Tomboy Takes Risks
When Patricia remembers her childhood, she freely admits that she grew up a tomboy much preferring to play outside with the boys. Because of that adventurous spirit, Patricia had a number of memorable experiences that she laughs about today.

  Once she decided that she wanted to see if she could pole vault so she grabbed a tomato stake from the garden and gave it a try. She ended that adventure in the ER with stitches down the center of her right hand.

  Patricia was also a regular tree climber. Once while trying to get back down from one, she somehow ended up hanging upside down with a prong on the chain link fence piercing her leg. “A neighbor found me and helped me get loose,” Patricia says.

  And then there was the time she talked younger sister Lisa into jumping off the roof of their house onto a picnic table in the backyard. “I had no trouble with the leap,” Patricia explains. “Who knew she had weak ankles?”

A Foundation of Faith and Family
After Patricia’s father spent six months in the hospital and rehabilitation in Boston following his accident, the family moved from Tallulah to West Monroe. Patricia’s parents still live in the house that she grew up in. Her maternal grandparents were still alive and living near Eros so Patricia enjoyed visiting with them during the summer and on holidays. Her paternal grandparents had passed away before she was born.

Every Sunday morning and evening plus every Wednesday night, the family attended services at a small Baptist Church, Emmanuel Baptist (now North Hills Church) in West Monroe. Patricia says that missing services was not an option. The loving home life that her parents provided plus that solid foundation through worship introduced Patricia to Jesus and grounded her in her faith. “My mom instilled in us the importance of faith in God,” Patricia says. “Dad demonstrated perseverance through overcoming obstacles. He was baptized when I was seven, and it was quite a sight to see grown men carry him in a chair down into the water.”

Patricia attended Highland Elementary School. For grades 7-9, she attended Boley Jr. High, and then completed her high school years at West Monroe High (WMHS). Patricia’s Boley years were good ones. In the 7th and 8th grades, she was runner-up in the Regional Social Studies Fair. In the 9th grade, she won the Grand Championship and a full-year scholarship to Northeast Louisiana University (NLU). She had a good voice, and was in the Boley Ensemble in the 8th grade. After that year, she changed her focus from singing to working on the yearbook as photographer in the 9th grade. 

At WMHS she joined the yearbook staff and became editor her senior year. She also served on Student Council all 3 years including two years as secretary. “One of my responsibilities was writing parking tickets. That job didn’t get me many thanks,” Patricia remembers with a smile. She was also secretary for the National Honor Society, a 3-year member of the Octagon, enjoyed Quill and Scroll, Fellowship of Christian Students, and Anchor Club and ran track.

Mentors Who Mattered 
Jean Griggs, yearbook advisor at Boley, was Patricia’s first mentor. Under her guidance, Patricia’s interest in writing, editing, and photography emerged. At WMHS Patricia caught the attention of Hope Carroll, an English teacher and yearbook advisor. Hope’s husband, Bob, was Patricia’s advisor and professor at NLU. Together, the Carroll’s were instrumental in Patricia’s decision to pursue a degree in journalism and public relations. “They saw potential in me that I could not see. They spoke confidence into me,” Patricia says. “and helped groom me from a shy, quiet teenager to a successful career person. Years later, they both invited me to speak to their college classes in Indiana and Pennsylvania.”

John Jones was also a mentor during her NLU years. At the time, he was Student Publications Manager. Ironically, years later they were reunited when Patricia hired John to work in Corporate Communication at CenturyTel where he excelled in his corporate career. 

Patricia became the first one in her family to earn a college degree. Interestingly, she had considered both nursing and social work as possible careers. She majored in journalism with an emphasis in public relations. Her favorite class was PR Campaigns where she had to create and present a PR campaign for a non-profit. Later, when at CenturyTel, Patricia taught that same class one semester as an adjunct instructor. 

Patricia was on the NLU yearbook staff for two years and spent one year as editor of the Greeks section. “I had no clue,” Patricia admits. “I had never been to a sorority event in my life, but I managed it somehow.”

Career Dreams
After her first jobs babysitting, Patricia started working at the West Monroe Dairy Queen when she was 15. When she was a junior at WMHS, she began working for the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office in the records division. After she entered NLU, she worked at the Sheriff’s Office 20 hours a week. Later, she moved to the bookkeeping division where she was responsible for paying bills and payroll. Patricia also worked on an employee newsletter plus wrote articles for the Ouachita Citizen as a volunteer.

In 1987, Patricia began her communications profession when CenturyTel ( then Century Telephone Enterprise)  hired her as a manager. Her career there evolved until she became Vice President of Corporate Communication. While at CenturyTel, she had many responsibilities. Among those were leading the development and integration of the CenturyTel brand, setting an integrated communications strategy for the company and overseeing execution of all communications, and developing and implementing strategic media relations program.

Fond memories of her corporate days include being with the executive team at the New York Stock Exchange to ring the opening bell and celebrate CenturyTel’s one millionth customer. She often traveled with executives to visit employees across the country. On many of those trips, her love for chocolate got her teased. “When I made employee trips with Mr. Williams and Mr. Post, Mr. Williams would often tease me in front of employees.” Patricia explains. “When he was introducing me to them, he would warn them to not get between me and chocolate!”

A key accomplishment of her professional journey was achieving her accreditation through the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and serving in various positions, including the executive board one year. Participating in Leadership Louisiana was another highlight of her corporate career.

It Began With Prayer 
In early 1995, one of Patricia’s designer’s asked her to pray for a friend who needed to know the Lord. Patricia didn’t know him, but she prayed. That summer, that fellow – Matthew Cameron – was hired to work on projects in Patricia’s department. The two became best friends, spending hours talking about God. “He thought of things from such an intellectual point of view that it was hard for him to grasp the love and sacrifice of God,” Patricia remembers. They began dating, and Matthew helped her with singles activities that Patricia planned for her church. She would tell people she was going through a mid-life crisis early. She cut off her long hair, bought a red BMW and started dating someone younger than her — which she had said she would never do. 

Matthew professed his faith and the two became engaged. Two months later, Matthew and Patricia married. 

The marriage was filled with highs and lows, but through them all the two lived their life together at what Patricia describes as “full speed ahead.”  Neither had any idea where their life would take them, but both believed that God would see them through.

In 2001, the couple experienced the death of their first child, an infant daughter named Ashlynn Cameron. They had learned at 20 weeks that their unborn baby had Potter’s Syndrome, a rare condition. After losing their daughter, the two decided to explore adoption. In June of 2002, they learned of a baby about to be born. Two weeks later, Connor Cameron was born and in Patricia’s arms. 

Two and a half years later, their second son was born. Matthew and Patricia had three days’ notice before Garrett Cameron was theirs. The couple was considering adopting a third child when Patricia discovered that she was pregnant. At this point, she had suffered four miscarriages, but their third son, Parker Cameron, was welcomed in 2007, giving them only one hour and 45 minutes notice. 

After 19 ½ years at CenturyTel, Patricia left corporate and began working for herself. Matthew encouraged Patricia to spread her wings and form her own consulting firm — Green Leaf Ink. At the time, she was pregnant with Parker and wanted to work from home while rearing their sons. Her firm provided strategic communication planning and development services, media management, media and public speaking training, speechwriting, and external communications counsel on a contract or project basis. “Through my work at CenturyTel and Green Leaf Ink, I have trained hundreds of key leaders how to speak in public settings as well as respond to media interviews,” Patricia says. 

In 2013, Patricia and Johnna Van formed Great Minds Communication, a marketing and PR agency. Several years later, they added Renee Arrington to the team. What began as collaboration and partnership blossomed into lifelong friendships. Then in 2019, the three formed another partnership with Bob and Sherri Holladay and created the Digital People. Patricia left the business world in 2021 to follow her calling to write and publish a book. 

n 2015, Patricia’s life changed with Matthew’s sudden death. He collapsed on the track at Neville, shortly after beginning a run with colleagues from work. He died five days later. Their sons were young (13, 10 and 8) and Patricia suddenly found herself a single parent. “In my anguish, I had to decide whether I trusted God or not. I had to decide if what I knew in my head was what I believed in my heart,” Patricia remembers. “I had to trust He was who He said He was and what He said was true. As I sat beside my husband’s hospital bed, I told God I would praise Him no matter what happened.”

For the previous three years, Patricia had been running marathons. Matthew’s death came three weeks before she was scheduled to run her 6th one. “I wasn’t sure whether to run or not, but I thought he would have wanted me to complete what I had started,” Patricia says.

Patricia reached down deep and through faith found the strength that she needed to go on. A little over a year after Matthew’s death, Patricia attended a women’s retreat that helped her heal. “It was a defining time in my life,” Patricia says. “It gave me focus and clarity and women who were the hands and feet of Jesus. I left knowing I wanted my experiences to somehow encourage and help others in their own journey of faith and loss. I wanted my experiences and life to glorify God.”

Then she felt called to write a book about finding joy even in heartbreak or loss. Grief Unwrapped: Discovering Joy in a Season of Sorrow was released in November 2022. It reminds readers of God’s presence and demonstrates how He brings strength and peace in the midst of life’s losses.

When she began to write, she quickly learned she needed a platform and created the Faith-Driven Joy blog. Many of her blog posts are included in her books. 

While writing Grief Unwrapped, another book idea formed. This book, Ever Present: Real Stories of God’s Presence Through Trials and Triumphs, invites the reader to experience the joy of living in God’s presence. It includes personal stories that teach spiritual lessons about trust. Ever Present has won two industry awards in the devotion/study and inspirational book categories. 

Patricia is now in her 38th year as a writer and editor. Her work has transitioned from corporate PR and internal communications to community outreach and training to ad copy and marketing strategies to a new form – creating material aimed at inspiring hope and encouragement to those who needed it most. It was writing with a purpose – exactly what Patricia needed.

In addition to writing, Patricia speaks at events encouraging women to find joy when life brings setbacks and loss. “When I faced my darkest moments, God stepped in and changed everything.” She shares lessons from her journey to inspire others to turn their setbacks into hope and joy with Jesus. 

Children – God’s Greatest Blessing 
Immediately after Matthew’s death, Patricia promised herself that she would keep life as normal as possible for her young sons. The first Christmas without Matthew, Patricia drove her sons to New Mexico so she could teach them how to snow ski. Sleet turned into a blizzard, and Patricia found herself driving through white-out conditions. Even so, the trip marked a turning point toward recovery for them all.

Today those boys have grown into men in whom their mom feels great pride. Patricia often hears compliments from others about them. 

The late educator Booker T. Washington once wrote, “Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.” Patricia Cameron has overcome much through faith. Now her books are showing others how to do the same.