WELCOME to the Celebration of Life ~ Patricia Morgan

I was asked by family members to welcome their family and friends as the Celebration of Life began honoring their Mother: Patricia Morgan.

Read on August 6th, 2023 in Spokane, Washington

Good morning.

 

What a beautiful summer day as we come together to celebrate, to honor, to remember, to say goodbye. 

 

This is our time to share, our love, our stories, our regrets and our memories of an accomplished women, mother, friend, grandmother, neighbor, attorney, and nurse. A lover of the arts local and beyond and an active member of the Spokane community. 

 

Today we share our memories.  Your memories will join together with others’ memories.

 

Today we begin to create a beautiful tapestry of our shared memories that will help us keep Pat alive in our hearts and minds. 

 

Today is as much about Pat as it is about our own individual loss.

 

Today we come together to listen, to laugh, to learn, to cry, to celebrate, to remind us of how lucky we all are to have had Pat a part of our lives. 

 

Pat Morgan. 

 

Patricia Bladykas Hall Morgan… as I liked to call her. 

 

On behalf of her family, Jennifer, Emily, Wendy, Baxter and Edi, We welcome you.  

 

I am John, a family friend. I met Pat 31 years ago in 1992, Pat and Emily had traveled east to attend Jennifer’s graduate school graduation.  When I moved to Seattle, I would see Pat on her trips to Seattle and my trips to Spokane. I always knew I had Pat’s support as my friendship with her daughter grew, stumbled, changed direction and went the distance as lifetime friends. I was honored that her daughters, Jennifer and Emily, asked me to open today’s celebration. 

 

To start today, let me take just a moment to share my favorite Pat story. 

 

Pat and I were both Long Islanders. We both grew up on Long Island and we talked about it occasionally when we were together. A twin, Pat and her sister Betty, “The Bladykas Twins” as I use to call them to her daughters, had a tradition of getting their childhood girlfriends together for a long weekend of catching up, sightseeing in whatever city they had chosen to meet up in, sharing memories and having fun.  One weekend when Pat was hosting at Jennifer’s condo in Seattle, Pat called me up (I lived a few blocks away) and said the girls were in town (I thought she meant Jennifer and Emily). But mistaken, much to my surprise, l later learned and met the “Long Island Ladies!” 

 

The Long Island Ladies, had come together in Seattle to do their thing and to continue to nurture their own unique and special friendship. Pat asked me to join them for lunch at Café Campagne down at the Pike’s Place market. So off I went. And I had lunch with these 4-5 accomplished ladies sharing their lives and catching up. We laughed and talked about Long Island and had a grand time. Truly one of my favorite memories of Pat and her twin Betty. 

 

When Pat’s sister Betty died, I shared this story with Jennifer and to her astonishment she said: “Emily and I were never invited to the Long Island Ladies’ weekends… How the heck did you get to attend?” 

 

I shrugged and simply said maybe because I grew up on Long Island? It was a unique day, where I became aware of a different Pat, a lady beyond just my friends’ mother. And the stories they shared were fun and rich. 

 

I smile every time I think about that luncheon. I can so clearly see us sitting at the table together chatting and sharing. And all those ladies who were celebrating, living, learning and their friendship. I like to think they are with us today. It was a special luncheon I will never forget. It was a gift Pat offered to me. Thank you Pat for that afternoon and all the treasured memories.

 

Pat would have loved to be here today, and she is… She is in all our hearts and in our minds and she will live on in our memories. She is, though, intently listening, smiling, laughing along with us and loving that this morning we came together to celebrate her life and her love. 

 

On behalf of Pat’s family, we are honored you are with us this morning. 

 

After the family and a few of her close friends honor Pat’s memory and her influence on their own lives, We will honor Pat, together, with a toast, assuring she begins her new journey keeping an eye on all of us.

 

We then will adjourn briefly to the lobby while the staff of the Spokane Club sets up a wonderful brunch for us to enjoy. During that brunch, we welcome you to share your own stories and to enjoy the photo montage. 

 

Come back into this room, talk to someone you don’t know, but knew Pat. Share your memories. This morning is a special morning for all of us to come together. It is through our stories we gain strength and keep Pat present in our hearts. 

 

Together we weave a new tapestry to warm our memories of Pat Morgan. Head home to your own personal lives remembering Pat and the intricate ways our time this morning weaved together, the sharing, the tears, the laughter and the beauty.  Cherish how it enriched our souls and preserved her memory in our hearts.  

 

Lucky us!

 

Indeed, What a beautiful morning!