Patricia Dowd Groeninger

Patricia Dowd Groeninger passed away peacefully on October 14, 2022, at age 89, with family by her side. Pat was the second of six children born to Archibald and Helen Dowd, born on August 30, 1933. Upon graduating from Mount Saint Dominic Academy in 1951, she attended St. Michael's Hospital School of Nursing, where she earned her R.N. degree in 1954. She then moved to Washington, D.C., where she financed her bachelor's degree in nursing at Georgetown working at the university hospital. While living with friends in a Georgetown brownstone and working as a public health nurse, she met her husband, Artie, who was studying law at American University. They married on August 27, 1960, and returned to New Jersey, where their four children, Mary Pat, Margie, Jeanine, and Paul, were born. In 1971, the family moved to Harvard, Massachusetts, where Pat lived for the next 28 years. There, she became an avid volunteer. She served as president of the League of Women Voters, advocating passionately for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, often taking one of her daughters along with her to the State House to learn political advocacy first-hand. On the local level, she served for 20 years on the town's Finance Committee and chaired the Town Caucus for seven years. She also served for ten years as a Harvard Conservation Trustee, charged with preserving local acreage for public use, then three years as president, Pat served for many years as a Girl Scout leader and a second-grade Sunday school teacher at St. Theresa's Catholic Church, where she revitalized the first communion curriculum, involving families more fully in that important rite of passage. She loved singing with the church folk group, forming many of her longest and closest friendships there. Her other besties included her neighbors Katie Holland and Robin Yates, laughing over tea while their children were shooed outside to play with each other. As her children neared high school, Pat returned to work part-time as a public health nurse at Clinton Hospital. After Art died suddenly in 1981, she worked full-time as an occupational health nurse at Morgan Construction Company in Worcester and then at Bose Industries in Framingham. Pat was an innovative nurse, developing health and wellness classes, smoking cessation programs, and other preventative health programming for her workplaces. In her 50's, Pat returned to school, taking evening classes to complete a Master's in Counseling Psychology. In her downtime, Pat loved reading and staying up late to watch Cary Grant and Fred Astaire movies. Pat retired in 1999 and moved to Williamsburg, Virginia. She took up bicycling and, in addition to frequent rides with the local cycling group, made several trips to Europe, cycling through Holland, Ireland, Scotland, Germany, and Finland. She remained an active volunteer: working as a docent at Old Jamestown, providing health and wellness checks for area seniors, advocating for youth in the local court system through CASA, and leading a local AARP Tax-Aide group. She continued to grow in her faith through small, home-based group gatherings that sprang from her church. Pat was above all a loving mother and grandmother, who always put her family first, frequently traveling to Charlottesville, Minnesota, San Francisco, and Washington to spend time with her grandchildren and organize the household cupboards. "Family is most important" was her mantra. For many years, "Nana" sponsored an annual week-long family reunion at different locations around the United States, giving her children and grandchildren adventures and lifelong loving connections. In her early 80s, Pat began to experience the effects of dementia and retired for a second time to The Independence in Charlottesville, where she continued to live independently for seven years. She participated in nearly every activity the Independence offered from hikes to lunches out to jazz concerts to yoga to happy hours and teas. Pat is survived by her children and their spouses: Mary (Will Helms) Groeninger; Margie (Laura Rodriguez) Groeninger, Jeanine (Tom) Wolanski, and Paul (Christa Smith) Groeninger; her ten grandchildren--Matt, Claire, Drew, Sam, Cole, Phoebe, Amaya, Mateo, August, and Celia; her sister Kathy (Jimmy) Savage, brother James (Charlene) Dowd, sister-in-law Aggie Dowd, and her brother Kenny (Bonnie) Dowd; and 21 nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her husband, Arthur Groeninger, her sister, Mary Anne Cutlip, and her brother, John Dowd. A celebration of Pat's life will be held on Saturday, December 3, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. at Holy Comforter Church in Charlottesville. In the summer of 2023, Pat's daughter Mary, an Episcopal priest, will officiate the interment service and committal of Pat's ashes in Harvard, MA, alongside her late husband and parents. The date is yet to be determined. The family wishes to extend thanks to the staff at Rosewood Village (Greenbrier) and Hospice of the Piedmont who provided loving care to Pat in her final years. Donations to the Alzheimer's Association (act.alz.org) are a welcome way to celebrate Pat's life. An online guestbook is available at www.compassionatecremationva.com Compassionate Cremation Services of Ruckersville, VA is handling the arrangements.

Patricia Dowd Groeninger

August 30, 1933 - October 14, 2022