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Memorial for Patricia Catherine Parent
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Born in Indianapolis Indiana on Sep. 6, 1931
Departed on Mar. 25, 2010 and resided in Indianapolis, IN.
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| Visitation: |
Sunday, Mar. 28, 2010
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| Service: |
Monday, Mar. 29, 2010
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| Cemetery: |
Calvary Cemetery
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Please click on the links above for locations, times, maps, and directions.
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Patricia Catherine (Duffin) Parent, a woman of spunk, died March 25, 2010. She was 78.
She was born on Sept. 6, 1931, at home in Haughville on the west side of Indianapolis. As a child she was a tomboy who loved playing cards with "the guys" at her father's filling station. She grew up to enjoy playing euchre and bridge. She graduated from St. Anthony Elementary School and St. Mary Academy.
As a teen-ager Pat worked at her mother's restaurant. She then spent 13 years at Indiana Bell, where she worked her way up into management before leaving to rear her children. She later was a head banquet waitress at the Indiana Convention Center and served as a union steward. She believed passionately in justice and sought to improve conditions for employees.
She enjoyed traveling, from voyaging to Europe on a ship in her 20s to taking an Alaskan cruise after retiring. She loved cheering for her favorite drivers at the Indianapolis 500. A news junkie and voracious reader, she was a familiar face at the Brown Library, where she cleared out the mystery section on a regular basis.
In her youth Pat was active in the Young Catholics Association and Young Democrats. She went to Washington, D.C., to attend the inauguration of John F. Kennedy in 1961, and kept the hat she wore until the end of her life. She was a longtime member of Little Flower parish, and volunteered frequently at Little Flower Elementary School when her children attended there.
Pat was proud of her Irish heritage and was an officer of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians.
She was a woman of simple but specific tastes. She liked her bread white, her meat well-done and her vegetables out of a can. She loved Coca-Cola and smoked unfiltered Pall Malls until a move into a nursing home forced her to give them up.
Pat had a strong sense of style, and a weakness for clothing and jewelry. She also showered gifts upon her children and grandchildren. This child of the Depression, who grew up never having enough, wanted her own family to know true abundance.
She was small but tough, battling breast cancer and a host of other ailments in recent years.
She is survived by Gerald, her husband of 47 years; daughters Tawn Spicklemire (Steve), Jami Parent (Erik Novak) and Alys Parent; and grandchildren Zach, Kami, Clay and Ruby Spicklemire, and Delia and Andre Novak. Dying before her were her parents, Ernest and Frances Duffin, and sisters Rita Petree, Lucille Strodtbeck, Jean Kelly and Blanche Duffin.
Mourners are invited to wear hot pink, Pat's favorite color, in her honor. Visitation will be Sunday, March 28, from 2-5 at Usher Funeral Home at 2313 W. Washington St. A funeral mass will be held at Little Flower Catholic Church on Monday, March 29, at 10 a.m.
Memorial contributions may be made to Catholic Charities. Online condolences can be given at usherfuneralhome.com.
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This Memorial Obituary provided by
Usher Funeral Home
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