Pat Syoen - Obituary

(The previous post has this same information but it did not format well so I am reposting it in a different format.)

I taught at Yankee Ridge after this woman retired, but she subbed frequently in the building and so I got to know her. The obituary describes her personality well, especially the words in the first paragraph that are in parenthesis.

She did not like boys and often misinterpreted their actions. (I hope it was misinterpretation.) She claimed once, after subbing in my class, that one of my African American boys had deliberately bumped into her, causing him to receive an in-school suspension.

I wasn't there and did not see it happen, but after talking to him, I do not think he deserved the suspension.

URBANA — Our aunt, sister, sister-in-law, friend Pat Syoen, was a wild and crazy woman. She led her life on her own terms, and she was both loved (and a little bit feared!) by those who knew her. 

Starting her life as the youngest child of Angie and George Syoen, with her sisters Mary Catherine and Barbara, she lived a childhood of not much money but lots of love in Depression-era Chicago. As a young woman, she joined the convent, becoming a Sister of Providence of St. Mary-of-the-Woods. Even then, she combined a deep love of God with a certain, shall we say, irreverence towards the rules involved in the pursuit of that goal. She was educated to become an elementary school teacher, which served her well all her life.

fter leaving the convent, she relocated to Urbana, where her experience, skills and unspoken but undeniable love of the children she served led her to years of teaching third grade in Urbana’s public schools. Yankee Ridge Elementary was her home, its students her beneficiaries.

But describing her life as a single woman who taught third grade all her life is only part of who she was. She was also fiercely devoted towards the goals of social justice. Who else marks her golden years bussing down to the School of the Americas to take part in peaceful protest outside its gates?

She chose her church membership dependent on its being a welcoming community in all senses of the word. The last years of her life she had a close and involved relationship with McKinley Presbyterian, enjoying both its warm, eclectic membership and its adherence to the tenets of love and inclusion that she so highly valued.

Finally, Pat had a wicked sense of humor. Fifteen years before she died, she wrote a letter to her nieces and nephews outlining her wishes for the end of her life. Stating that she didn’t want a memorial service, she said, “If you want to sit around and talk about what a nice person I was, that’s okay. Want refreshments? Buy them yourselves. Don’t charge me or my estate!”

She was a fount of stories about her years in the convent, her many cruises, most with her dear friend Diane Hines, and her favorite (or were they most challenging?) students over the years.

She was loved and respected. She is survived by her sister, Mary Catherine Hustoles; brother-in-law, Edward Hustoles; nephews, Tom Hustoles, wife Carol, and Paul Hustoles, wife Mary Jo; nieces, Mary Beth Hustoles and Barbara Hustoles, husband Don Smith; the community at McKinley Presbyterian, especially close friends, Associate Pastor the Rev. Keith Harris and his wife Amy (Amy’s son Gabe was unofficially declared Pat’s adopted grandson), and countless grandnieces and nephews and former third graders.

We are more in having known her, less in her passing. Pat didn’t leave a request for a charity to accept donations in her name. You choose. Someplace welcoming and inclusive.

“Lord I tried to, to see it through

But it was too much for me.

So now I`m coming home to you.

Yes, I feel like going home.”

— Charlie Rich (whose love child she would have had in a heartbeat)