Patricia Thayer, mother of Kiss guitarist Tommy Thayer, has passed away.

This loss comes at a particularly turbulent time for the Thayer family, whose members were already dealing with some medical drama suffered by Tommy's father James, who recently underwent surgery. That procedure went well -- Tommy tweeted on Sept. 26 that it ended with "no complications" and added that "The docs are keeping close eye on him, everything is very positive" -- but the Thayers now face a different, and far more difficult, journey of healing.

Thayer has credited his parents with instilling and encouraging his love of music; his mother was a classically trained violinist and singer, and as he recalled in a 2013 interview with Westlake Magazine, they were far more permissive than most of the moms and dads in his social circle when he was bitten by the rock 'n' roll bug. In fact, it was Tommy's mother who bought him his first electric guitar, and the elder Thayers let him grow his hair out, too. "My mom and dad were cool like that," he said. "They got a lot of flak from my aunts and uncles."

The Thayers' support obviously paid off -- recently to the tune of the more than $1 million generated when Tommy joined Kiss for a makeup-free fundraising show scheduled to help raise funds for an Oregon military museum that's being named after his father, a World War II and former brigadier general. The band offered its public support after Patricia's passing via Facebook post, echoing the feelings of many fans with a brief note reading, "We offer our condolences and deepest sympathies to Tommy on his mother's passing. Our thoughts and prayers are with you."

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