PATRICIA O’MALLEY
July 17, 1948 - December 3, 2021
ASSOCIATE COMMITMENT: August 8, 2013
Pat aka Patsy was the youngest of six children born to Hugh and Nora, who emigrated from Ireland. Her 5 siblings: Hugh and Jim are deceased. Her sisters, Nora and Mary, and her brother Richie survive her. Pat was especially devoted and close to her sisters and her brother. They were her best friends. She had 29 nieces and nephews and played a big role in their care especially when the families lived in Washington Heights. When they began moving out of NY, she traveled often to visit them. Pat was a source of love and guidance for her nieces and nephews and when she became a great aunt she also enjoyed loving that generation too.
A Social Worker, Pat graduated from Fordham University with a BA and a Master's from Hunter College. She was a senior level social worker at multiple sites: Brookdale Center for the Aging, Riverdale Senior Center, Scarsdale Family Counseling and Riverdale YMCA, geriatric services department. Pat was much admired and respected by colleagues and beloved by her clients. The Executive Director at Scarsdale Family Services said that Pat had a special affinity for the most fragile of the elders she was the social worker for and with her generous heart and skilled professionalism enhanced the quality of Life for her clients.
Pat touched many lives and anyone who came in contact with her felt her kind and caring nature: friends, neighbors, fellow parishioners, colleagues, the staff at her long-term residential building in Riverdale and in her final residence at Workmen's Circle-nursing home, folks always felt seen, respected and cared about as an individual by Pat. The staff at Workmen's Circle said she was a cheerful person and easy to care for because she cared about them too.
She maintained close contact with friends from her youth in Washington Heights and classmates at Aquinas High School and developed many new friendships on her life's journey. On the final day of Pat's Life, her dear friend, Mary McLaughlin, left the nursing home with Pat laughing at a shared joke and Irish witticism. Pat shared many joyful times with her friend Andria Cassidy, from holiday gatherings to caring for the family dog, Pixie. Pat also enjoyed many wonderful trips to Ventnor, NJ, at the seaside residence of the Dominican Sisters. A devout Roman Catholic and a very active member of any Parish she was a member of, most notably: St Elizabeth's in Washington Heights, Notre Dame in Morningside Heights, St Gabriel's in the Bronx. She also served as a lector and Eucharistic Minister. Pat was an Associate of the Dominican Sisters of Blauvelt and participated in the Dominican Sisters' Life and Mission. She spent a few years in the Dominican women's prison ministry.
Pat had many joys: family, her Irish heritage, family reunions and gatherings, Disney movies, having a meal with friends, the ocean, traveling across country and to Ireland and Israel; music, singing, dancing: especially an Irish jig or reel and board games. During the last year of her life, Pat assured her loved ones that she was happy had no regrets and was always ready to meet God. She was in constant connection to prayer in her spiritual life. Pat is at peace.