May Pat rest in peace.  My sincere condolences to Roger and the boys.   You are an amazing family. God bless you.

My mom was and will always be an amazing woman. She was full of love for anyone and everyone. Strangers were only strangers until she said hello. She always looked out for others. At holidays she would invite people over who were alone so they wouldn’t be on any special day. Her love for animals (except rats and snakes lol) was infectious and she loved helping them, fostering, or adopting them. She and Dad would feed the entire animal population of Germantown. Family always came first for her. Beyond that she loved writing. When she almost quit writing I pushed her to change genres and write a fantasy series with me. We had such fun together writing those books, especially the first three. She will be missed every second of my life but I feel her presence around me still. She will always be with me and my family because good things never go away. I love you mom.

I remember Pat well from the early days of AWLMC and the former Montgomery County SPCA. She was warm, helpful, and always fun to be around. I loved going into the shelter when she was there. I remember both her and Roger very well.

Mom was a wonderful soul, full of life and energy, with a love of people, nature, and more than anything else, family. She was truly an amazing woman and we miss her immensely.

Born as Patricia Shaughnessy, mom grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. The oldest of eight siblings, she met my father while working at a drugstore and the two hit it off immediately. In 1967, they got married and shortly thereafter relocated to Montgomery County, Maryland, where my dad was offered a position with the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Department of Energy). In 1970, my parents welcomed their first child, my brother, Roger “Chip” Gagne, and I followed two-and-a-half years later.

Growing up, my brother and I had a VERY happy childhood. My parents worked really hard to give us a good upbringing, while still keeping us grounded by teaching us good values and the difference between right and wrong. To be honest, Chip and I couldn’t have asked for better parents and we both think back fondly of our childhoods.

During the early years of my life, Mom was a stay-at-home mother. As my brother and I got older though, she really wanted to go out into the workforce for herself. She had several key jobs that I remember… she was a swimming instructor and administrative assistant at a local indoor pool (added benefit: Chip and I got free reign of the pool when it was closed); she was a bowling coach running her own league at the local bowling alley (added bonus: free games of bowling whenever we wanted); and she was secretary at the board of education (NOT an added bonus: she had free access to my teachers :-/). She also studied paralegal law at the University of Maryland, but this was more out of interest, not an attempt to get a law degree.

Mom had a slew of hobbies, but more than anything else, she was an avid reader of mystery, science fiction, fantasy, and romance. She always had a book in her hands and I remember spending countless hours in used book stores as a child. For fun, she decided to try her hand at writing and joined a local writing group where she made a ton of new friends. Sending out draft novels to various publishers (and receiving numerous rejection letters), she eventually got picked up by Harlequin Books and published her first romance/mystery novel, Mystery Baby, in 1996. From that point on, she was hooked. Mom published 28 books under the pseudonym Dani Sinclair for Harlequin. She was nominated and became a 2008 RITA finalist for Contemporary Series Romance: Suspense/Adventure. She eventually retired from Harlequin, although her books continue to be published across the globe. After retirement, Mom partnered with my brother to co-write a series of five fantasy novels (the Magic Returns series) which they self-published.

Mom really loved all-things nature – but especially cats. She would feed all of the local stray cats, as well as the deer, birds, rabbits, groundhogs, and other creatures that lived in her backyard. She also owned and fostered many cats throughout her life. Post retirement, she worked with a group of similar minded-people and helped stand up the Animal Welfare League of Montgomery County. There, she worked to find good homes for countless stray cats – and volunteered as a counselor for many many years.

Throughout her life, Mom fought several major illnesses, always pulling through them because she was a fighter. In the mid-1980s she was diagnosed with Hotchkins Disease where she underwent brutal chemo and radiation treatments. These treatments were successful in beating the cancer, but ultimately took a major toll on her heart and lungs. In the early 2000s, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, this was caught early enough to be treated without issue. As she got older though, mom suffered an undiagnosed, but significant heart attack caused by the calcification of her heart from the radiation treatment. This eventually led her to need a replacement valve and had open heart surgery in 2013. Originally given a 5% survival rate, Mom pulled through the surgery without issue, but just a few years later needed a double bypass which she also survived.

In the later years, she was also diagnosed with COPD which made walking and breathing very difficult for her. This came at the same time that my dad was diagnosed with Parkinsons and the COVID-19 pandemic was raging. The COPD made it very difficult for mom to get out of the house, but she tried to make the best of it, always with a positive attitude. Chip moved in with my parents to help them out.

Mom passed away quite unexpectedly, but peacefully at home on the morning of November 9th. She was surrounded by family at the time. At her wishes, the family will not hold a service – she was cremated and her ashes will be spread at a later time.

There are no words I could ever say to thank her for everything she has done for me, but I find comfort in knowing that she will continue to live on in each of us lucky enough to have gotten to know her. She was a tremendous lady and a very important part of my life and I am eternally grateful for the 51 years I got to spend with her --  and even more grateful that she was my mother.

Goodbye Mom. Thank you. I love you. I hope you rest in peace. <3

Pat joined my husband and myself and 35 other cat people and we started the ANIMAL WELFARE LEAGUE OF ONTGOMERY COUTY OVER 20 YEARS AGO. THEY WERE THE BACKBONE OF THE ORGANIZATIONS BUILDING THE SHELTER ON PARK AVENUE.  Pat was a wonderful person who cared for all she know. working to get unwanted cats into their new homes were top of her mind and she loved and taught us all so much.

We are sending our love to Rodger, Chip and Danny. My sister taught me a lot growing up, I’ll miss her kindness and patience she showed me over the years. We loved her very much, she will always be in our hearts and thoughts for years to come.

Picture taken on occasion of Pat and Rogers 50th wedding anniversary. Present also Ed, brother and Pat, sister in law. I have known Pat since 1973 when introduced to the family by my fiancee Ed. I have many wonderful memories of Pat and she will always be safe in my heart. Condolences to sons Chip and Dan and especially husband Roger.

OBITUARY

Patricia Gagne

17 April, 1949 – 9 November, 2024

DeVol Funeral Home

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