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It’s a Calling
She never married but she just loved children. Thankfully her brothers and sister did marry and have children, seven in all. She was known as Aunt Patty and all the children just loved her every bit as much as she loved them. There was never a birthday that wasn’t remembered. Not only for her nieces and nephews, but I think she had the whole neighborhood marked on her calendar. When a babysitter was needed a call went out and Patty was right there.
It seems as if she was involved with children ever since she was a child herself. The first job she acquired after graduating from our community college was with Ark Industries, a work training agency that helped mentally and physically challenged young people adapt. Although she worked in the office, all those who participated in the program, men and women, boys and girls knew her by name and she knew each of them.
She was active in her church in the Sunday school and mid week services. It seemed as though she ran a shuttle service, always going out of her way to pick up those who had no ride. The pastor saw something special in her and asked if she would be interested in being the church secretary, a job she was delighted to accept and excelled at.
Her role as Aunty was still her first priority, not only with her immediate family but the one that extended to include most of the town. There were hockey games in the winter, baseball or soccer in summer and fall. She missed very few chances to cheer her kids on. All the kids on her street knew her and called her Miss Patty, and of course there were always hugs for all. Most of these have grown up now and have married and moved away.
Over the years she has worked for several Pastors and has been an asset to the church. Her present Pastor received a call to a church several miles away in Northern Ontario. He asked if she would be interested in a change of scenery; since she got along so well with both the Pastor and his wife and she often baby sat their children, she said, “Yes.”
She is dearly missed here in her small rural Southern Ontario town, but she has adapted well in her new northern city. She is working with a new generation of children in a new location. The routine is the same, just a lot more kids. It didn’t take her long to fit in and learn all the new names.
People are always asking me, “How is Patty doing up north? Tell her we miss her and often think about her.” She has touched so many lives and I am so very proud of her.
You see, I am her Dad, and I miss her too.
Oh by the way, Patty just got married this past year and has begun a whole new way of life along with her role of Aunty.
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