Breeding Angus cattle for nearly 70 years was an achievement Lucile Rheude Patton cherished. She began her cattle herd in 1938 while living on an Iroquois County, Ill., farm where she and her sister participated in 4-H. In 1941, Lucile showed the Illinois State Fair grand champion steer. Her cattle business expanded when she married John Patton Jr. and moved her Angus cows to a northwest Indiana farm. From that merger began Patton Farms.

Lucile served as the Indiana Angus Auxiliary president and was an American Angus Auxiliary charter member. She received the American Angus Breeders’ Futurity Pioneer Breeder Award.