Alice Lim (Worked with Pat at the Sciences Dept. Central Library.)

Entered December 10, 2016 from Mississauga

My deepest sympathy to the family for the loss of wonderful and kind Pat.

Angela, Jim and William Stewart (Friends)

Entered December 11, 2016 from Belleville,ON

Pat was a very quiet, unassuming woman. We were close friends from Library School days in Liverpool,England, and remained close after I emigrated to Canada.
Pat came to Canada a few years after, and we resumed our friendship. Despite the distance of our homes, we treasured that close bond we shared. Her husband and son have meant the world to her, and we are happy to know she lived a very good life in Mississauga.
We will always remember her with love.

Gigi Sittmann (I knew her from work)

Entered December 12, 2016 from Mississauga

Pat was indeed a very gently, kind soul.
My heart goes out to her family. May God hold her gently in his arms.

Ann and Bill Wright 

Entered December 12, 2016 from Next door neighbours

Pat was an intelligent, kind and wonderful neighbour.
She was a devoted wife and mother.
She fought the challenge of her illness with courage and great dignity.
Her garden provided her with much joy as she attended to her beautiful flowers.
May she rest in peace.
Ann and Bill

Randy Bachman (Friend)

Entered December 12, 2016 from Mississauga ON

My thought and prayers are with you
Me Lady, you will be missed by everyone
God Bless
Randy

I am very fortunate to have a wonderful person like Patricia as my wife for over 30 years. She will always be in my heart forever.

When a loved ones dies after a long illness that ravages body or mind, you think you will never be able to remember that person as they were before. From my own experience I know that one day when you least expect it a picture of them in happier times, as they went about some small task or eagerly pursued something they loved, will pop spontaneously into your mind …. and you will smile.
Needless to say as I have thought about Pat so much these last days, weeks and months, I am fortunate in having had her as my friend for so long and many pictures of her in earlier days right back to 1971 have come to mind.
Drawing upon the cinema of my memory this past ten days, I have seen Pat in many guises. There is Pat the cat lady and her love of Cleo, Muffin, Fred and Ginger while poor old Andy did his best to like them for Pat’s sake. There is Pat the book-lover and librarian who loved everything about her work, including the patrons, her colleagues and the daily reference challenges. Everything except the politics. There is Pat the shopper spending many a day off with June looking for bargains at Dixie Mall. There is Pat the craftswoman knitting hundreds of scarves and embroidering cross stitch items and happily giving them away to friends. There is Pat, the gardener with her love of flowers, joyful in her garden especially in the spring. Pat the somewhat nervous driver, who zips through a car wash like a race car driver because she forgets to put the car in neutral. Many Pats- Pat the reclusive, Pat the efficient housekeeper, Pat as wife and mother, Pat the indecisive, Pat the stubborn, Pat the lover of small everyday pleasures, Pat the unpredictable and for me Pat the loyal, caring friend.
But in those old movies I have been watching in my mind a couple of scenes stand out.
It is the early nineties. Sundroo and I are having a get-together of what my husband calls the ‘English contingent’ and their international husbands. Pat has phoned several times to ask what she can bring and I say, “Don’t worry Pat- please don’t bring anything” even though I know as I say it she will ignore my request completely, as she has done before at such times. So now she is arriving at the door carrying a bag. Right behind her is Andy also carrying a bag. “Oh no Pat-have you come to stay?” I exclaim. “Oh, it’s nothing Aileen just a few little bits and pieces you might be able to use!“ She then proceeds to unload a bottle of wine, a plate of her signature lime squares, another of her delicious chocolate brownies, six home-made mince-tarts, a pot of her special curried apricot and pineapple sauce to go with the ham she knows Sundroo has cooked, a jar of her home made pickled beets and on top of that she pulls out two packets of colorful serviettes in case we ran short. I exclaim over her skills and her generosity but she dismisses them again “Oh Aileen. I like doing it. It gives me an excuse to cook.” Such is Pat’s generosity, thoughtfulness and I might add excellence as a cook, because that day the lime squares and brownies disappear in a flash while my boring old dessert lingers on!!
And now the scene changes. Sundroo and I are at the airport meeting Pat and Andy from their long flight from Hong Kong. Andy is holding in his arms a small, bewildered, handsome little boy of one and a half years old. While Alex is totally confused, Pat and Andy are beaming, albeit somewhat nervously. They are undertaking the courageous step of becoming first-time parents at this relatively late stage in their lives. Pat is so happy to have found the child she had always longed for. Two days later as I go for my walk at lunch-time near Central Library, a little Toyota Tercel drives by and stops beside me. Alex is in the car seat and Pat tells me that with Andy at work, Alex is confused and unsettled and won’t stop crying. She is laughing but obviously a bit desperate about the situation and has hit upon the idea of driving Alex around to soothe him until he falls asleep. Sleep is not on Alex’s mind however. Pat has been driving around and around and around and around the neighborhood now for an hour and a half already. So thrilling is the view of his new world from the car window that now Alex cries when the car stops moving. I tell this story because it reflects a time that despite the huge practical learning curve involved, Pat was at her most contented and fulfilled knowing the happiness of raising a child would be worth the complexities involved.
So many good memories of my friend Pat to look on with pleasure. And yes even in her illness, that she faced so bravely despite her fear, there were moments when we laughed and many moments to treasure.
We are all so sorry for your loss Andy and Alex. But I should like to pay tribute to Andy’s ceaseless care of Pat after he took early retirement to be with her. Sometimes after the death of a loved one we torture ourselves with all the things we didn’t do. But Andy `was care giver par excellence’. I hope that when it’s our turn to shuffle off this mortal coil we each have somebody like him at our side.

Memorial Tribute – December 18, 2016

My name is Marian Kutarna, Manager of Arts & History Department at Mississauga Central Library. I am Pat’s last manager. I want to tell the story of Pat’s years as a public librarian, a calling that shaped Pat’s identify to her final days. Pat took early retirement in June 2011 after 42 yrs of service.

How did this all begin?
In 1969, a very young adult found her first full-time job – a library job in Manchester. Pat wasn’t from Manchester, but her mother was born there, and why not.

Pat remembered these early days fondly – lots of young people worked at the library, and they formed a group, they went out together, they worked together and the library was busy and this is where Pat caught the library bug. She liked to be busy, and she liked the bustle of the library.

In 1972 (three years later), Pat came to Canada. Toronto Public Library was offering a one-year library internship, and Pat was ready to travel, meet different people, and again why not.

It was a great year, and Pat was definitely not going home. She applied to Brampton Public Library who offered her a position conditional on being granted immigration papers. Pat went home and waited four long months in England till the papers finally arrived.

From 1973 -1989, Pat worked for Brampton Public Library, and through those years, got her undergraduate degree at University of Toronto and Masters in Library Science at University of Western Ontario, married, bought a house, a car. Life was good!

Pat was the collection development librarian for Brampton Public Library which meant she selected library materials for the whole system – an ideal job filled by a talented, committed, and now experienced librarian.

When Mississauga opened new Central Library in 1991, Pat became a full-time fiction librarian in the Readers’ Den Department. In 1992, Pat decided to change her status and joined the Arts & History team as a part-time reference librarian. These were pre-internet days, and we were crazy busy with long lineups at both desks in the evenings. We were hopping! And Pat hopped right in!

Life changed in Fall of 1993 when Pat took adoption leave to bring Alex back from Hong Kong. He was almost two -- just a baby on a long flight home to his new country.

Life had more challenges for Pat. She resigned in October 1994 because the family was being transferred to Burnaby, BC, but returned to Mississauga in 1995 and was quickly “poached” by the Arts & History Department. It appears that we could not do without Pat.

And Pat remained a loyal team member (for 16 years) till her early retirement in June 2011 after a very rewarding 42-year librarian career.

But enough about dates, what about working with Pat!

Pat was a real “book” librarian! She needed to be in the collection -- to review the shelf, see the condition of the books, the edges, the cover, the colour, the pages – she picked up the books, touched the books, and knew exactly what to do with each book. Pat’s secret was her very “hands on” approach and of course, her years of experience working with collections!

It was not unusual to see Pat pushing a heavy truck full of books to be considered more closely. And when Pat went through an area – like she often did for me in music, sports, literature -- the results were vivid! The collection became colourful, enticing, fun! Pat could work magic!

And there was another thing about Pat – she felt responsible for the whole collection, not just an assigned area. Over the years, she tipped me off about areas that needed a good clean up, and she was always keen to do the job right.

Pat was a total reference librarian! Pat cared, she was patient, kind, resourceful, and thorough, but most of all, Pat wanted to help people every day no matter their ability!

I’ve seen Pat go above and beyond in helping a customer – there have been times (when I’ve been on the desk with Pat) where she had assembled a little pile of scrap paper all scribbled over with ideas, organizations, or phone numbers that she had put together to call back a customer with more help.

AND Pat was a good team player!
Pat was the “show & tell” queen of the staff meetings! Very few staff meetings passed without a new book being described by Pat, and later, I’ve had staff tell me that “Pat’s book was just the thing” to recommend to a particular customer. Pat had ideas, she worked hard, and (bless her) she brought us food. She baked us cookies when she had time and mercifully brought in “Timbits” on Saturdays. She saved us at morning coffee break!

Can I finish with the very words I used at Pat’s retirement – Pat, I’m proud to be standing here to say -- “thank you for every hour of 42 years – every customer, every book”.