Beyond the South End

Pat’s Big Surprise

Or

The Rest of the Story

 

 

My 1959 classmate from Rockland High School and good friend, Pat Graves Pendleton, has recently become a YouTube star. I’ll leave that story to her son who appears below in a video about Pat’s big Christmas surprise. What I would like to do here is introduce you to a friend who was among the circle of my high school friends who had the same classes and hung out in my Dad’s old Desoto “bombing the rotary” chasing boys on a Friday evening when we were in high school.

In case you are wondering, the car pictured above is close to the DeSoto I drove the girls around in. It is a DeSoto Firedome S-16. I don’t know what year it is, probably a 40 something. You will see why I included a picture of it after you see the video.

 

 

This is Pat’s 1959 “Cauldron” or yearbook picture. Under her name it says: “Live today for tomorrow may never come.”

Below is a picture of my classmates and good friends, also DeSoto occupants except for Ron, who took business classes from Miss Sherwood. We sometimes called her “Diddie” just to tease her. Where that nickname came from I don’t have a clue. Pictured here left to right are: Sandra Sleeper Zimmerman, Violet Carr Karl, Miss Sherwood, Ron Murray, and Pat.  I don’t know where this picture came from, but I think I must have taken it myself as I would ordinarily be in such a picture with my friends. The occasion was our high school graduation as you can see them all holding tight to their diplomas which they were recently endowed with.

 

 

This is a more recent picture of good friends and “sistahs” for over 50 years, Violet and Pat. The class is still very close and meets once a month at a local bakery and coffee shop to have a cup of coffee and sit and gab for a while. I always enjoy that time if I am home at that time of month.

This video and the type before it were posted by Pat’s son recently to “This Blew My Mind” and You Tube.

She’s Raised 2 Sets Of Kids Over 45 Years,

But Nothing Could Prepare Her For This.

My Mom has had a lot of trials and tribulations in her life. Her second son died of SIDS at the age of 2 months, on my sister’s first day of school. She would later go on to raise my brother, my sister, and I, pretty much by herself. When the last child was about to leave the house to strike out on his own, tragedy struck when my sister was murdered. My Mom would go on to adopt and raise my sister’s 2 children, once again taking on the role of Mother. Through all the sacrifices and struggles my Mom has endured over the years, there’s one thing she’s never had. Watch the video below, when, at 73, she finally gets something she’s never had. It was an emotional day for the both of us, and one we’ll never forget.

 

(Pat was interviewed in 2013 in relation to her daughter’s murder and also to reach out to people who have lost a family member to murder. She is a member of the Maine chapter of Parents of Murdered Children. See excerpts from that Bangor Daily News story below.)

This is what Pat had to say about taking care of her children:

“Taking care of the children, though, may have been a lifesaver for Pat, who is now 72 and lives in Rockport. I couldn’t have been any other way. People say they were lucky to have me. I say I was lucky to have them,” she said.

“Pat Pendleton is a member of the Maine chapter of Parents of Murdered Children, which is trying to reach the families of loved ones who have been killed, to place the victims’ names on a memorial.

The monument will be erected at Holy Family Cemetery on Townsend Road in Augusta and will be dedicated to the lives of murder victims with connections to Maine families.

The state chapter has a list of more than 450 known Maine-related homicides over the past few decades but has family contacts for fewer than half of them.

If families are interested in having their loved ones’ names added to the list, to be inscribed into the monument, they may contact Art Jette at 277-3518 or mainepomc@gmail.com.”

(I don’t know if this monument has been erected yet as the story comes from 2013. I will ask Pat and update you on that later.)

Friends are probably the greatest gift you will receive in your lifetime. Enjoying time with each other and helping each other along life’s way is what being friends are all about. The friends I have in Maine have always been there for me even after I left Maine. That was especially true when Nanci and I lost our home to a flood.  Thank you, friends and thanks for listening.

Update: Pat reports that the memorial was in fact dedicated last fall. “It is in Augusta in a lovely cemetery by the turn to Market Place Shopping Mall,” she says.