Obituary
Patricia Riddle Gaddis Clark, 71, passed from death to the perfection of eternal life on August 24, 2025. She was surrounded by the love of her family. A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Patricia was the daughter of the late Glenn and Wilma (Fox) Riddle, and is preceded in death by her brother Robert Riddle and sister Sylvia Riddle Huggins.
Patricia was a loving Christian and a member of the Episcopal Church. She spent her life in the service of others, attempting to live her faith through actions and deeds. She worked as an advocate for victims of domestic violence at REACH of Haywood County and the 30th Judicial District Alliance and became an expert witness, testifying in several court cases across the country.
Patricia’s passion was the written word. She had the heart of a poet. Over her life, she published dozens of poems in magazines and literary journals, winning the prestigious Denny C. Plattner Appalachian Heritage Award for Written Excellence in Poetry in 1994. She also published three books, Battered But Not Broken: Help For Abused Wives and their Church Families (1996), Dangerous Dating: Helping Young Women Say No to Abusive Relationships (2000), and Escape to the Biltmore (2018) that won first place historical category and overall winner in the Touched by Love Contest from Romance Writers of America and was a finalist in the ACFW Genesis competition. She was fiction editor for Woman's World Magazine (2008-2018) and continued as a story contributor in that department. During that same period, she was also editor of My Guardian Angels column, features editor, and contributor for Woman’s World. She has also published numerous short stories and articles in Angels on Earth, Guidepost, and Christian Science Magazine. She became a literary agent in 2015 and worked to help writers develop their careers until the time of her passing.
Patricia is survived by her loving and devoted husband Vincent Clark, her son and daughter-in-law Shawn and Catt Gaddis, her sister Vicki Riddle Ottinger Currin and her beloved nephews and niece, Marty Riddle, Scott Riddle, Todd Riddle, Jim Stevens, Glenn Ottinger, John Ottinger, and Donna Ottinger Hall.
May light perpetual shine upon her.
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Is
Heart Song Literary Agency
right for you?
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Heart Song Literary Agency is interested in serving unpublished authors (and published authors without an agent) of sweet romance, cozy mysteries, (think Hallmark) and young adult categories. We will also consider a wide range of decent fiction and nonfiction contributions. It is Patricia’s passion to encourage writers in all phases of their journey. To that end, Heart Song Literary Agency is a full service agency providing honest, dedicated, and genuine service for aspiring and published authors. If your work is not accepted, we offer additional consulting and referrals to further your publishing goals. We also provide comprehensive editing services at competitive rates.
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Our core strength is representing inspirational fiction (including clean reads) and non-fiction books for adults. We do not market short fiction, screenplays, scripts, poetry, or magazine articles. We represent most genres in inspirational or commercial fiction. We are probably not the right agency to market your literary fiction, nor do we represent books that contain extraordinary violence, unnecessary profanity, or gratuitous sexuality.