Patty Simon Flaherty
Current location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Current status: Married (46 years)
General info: After St. Thomas, I went to college (at MSU), and, during my sophomore year, I went with friends to “a bar in Toledo" (just like the Kenny Rogers’ song), where I met my husband-to-be. The irony is that my taste buds never matured enough to like the taste of alcohol, and my friends told me on that night that I was going to marry the guy I just met (who is also named Pat), because I (who they always teased about not drinking) would have to tell my children someday that I met their father in a bar (which I did. : )
I got married right out of college and taught elementary school at none other than St. Thomas for a few years. Then, I had three kids in 4 years and stayed home with them for a while. Later, I got a couple of advanced degrees and ended up in corporate training and development for the rest of my working life.
My husband's work (IRS and U.S. Treasury) took us to Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati, Ohio for many years. Both were great and interesting places to live and raise the kids. In Washington, I tried to never miss a field trip with the kids' classes, not only to be a good mom, but also because it was so cool to see them study the Civil War and then go to the Manassas Battlefield, study Brazil and then go to the Brazilian Embassy and the Rain Forest Exhibit at the Natural History Museum, study Congress and go to Congress, etc.
About the time our youngest was graduating high school, my mom was diagnosed with dementia, and, since my dad had passed away many years before, we moved back to Ann Arbor to help with my mom's care. After she died, we stayed in Ann Arbor.
Our kids are now in their 30s and 40s. Thankfully, they are all healthy and doing well. One lives in Chicago, and two live in Michigan. They started their families later in life (my husband says we forgot to give them the instruction book when they got married : ), so we have three very young grandchildren with the hope of more to come. We are both retired and grateful for the blessings in our lives, including knowing each of you.
Favorite memory(ies) from St. Thomas years: My fondest memory of our St. Thomas years is the sense of community that I felt. We knew each other and each other’s families, with many of us going to school together for 12 years, and many of us having siblings who were in class together as well. It was great to go to both church and school together and be so involved in each other’s lives. I remember many of your parents and siblings well and fondly. Even now, when I visit my parents’ gravesite in St. Thomas Cemetery, I look around and see familiar names surrounding them, which makes me still feel that same sense of community.