Patsy Swayze

Yvonne Helen "Patsy" Swayze (née Karnes; February 7, 1927 – September 16, 2013) was an American film choreographer, dancer, and dance instructor, and the mother of actors Patrick Swayze and Don Swayze. Her credits include choreography for Urban Cowboy, Liar's Moon and Hope Floats.

Early life Swayze grew up in Houston, the daughter of Gladys Mae Karnes (née Snell), a nurse, and Victor Elliott Karnes, a World War I pilot and geologist.

When she was 10 years old, Swayze was hit by a car and her mother enrolled her in dance classes for therapy. She eventually trained in both jazz and classical ballet. Patrick met his future wife, film director and actress Lisa Niemi, while they were Patsy's students at the Swayze School of Dance. her oldest daughter Vicky Lynn, who died from a suicide involving a drug overdose in 1994 at the age of 45; her actor son Patrick, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2009 at the age of 57; her sisters, Kathryn and Diana Latham; and her brother, Elliott Karnes.