Even though we didn't see Pat often over all the years we knew her, we've always had a special place in our hearts for her. She was one of a kind and we will miss her positive attitude and warm smile. Our sincere condolences to her family.

I am so sorry for your loss, Jennifer and family.  Pat was a very special lady to me.  She called and told me she had a baby granddaughter named Lucia.  She made sure I got a picture of Lucia.  I will miss Pat dearly.  Maria

I knew Pat through my friendship with Andy & Kathy & Nora.  She was vibrant, with a smile that could heat and heal the earth.  I will miss her.

Back in the day, when I suggested we all go to Aruba, Pat proceeded, immediately and quite vigorously, to massage her sweater sleeves, her face, her neck, her socks and jeans. "What in God's name are you doing?" I asked, alarmed.
"Applying sunscreen," she said. Of course.
She had a real job and so had to work the first days of Christmas week, so Nora, Jenn, Andy and I took an earlier flight.  She arrived two days later while we were off buying T-shirts and painted seashells. We sighted her on the beach in her bikini and raced to her.  She lifted her index finger.  "Tell me...one thing," she said, in that pronounced precise way, "Do I have to move?  I don't have to go anywhere, do I?" 
Here's what Pat packed for a week in Aruba: 1 Bikini, 2 tank tops, 1 batik wraparound skirt, 1 very small, very worn denim jacket, 1pr. sandals, baseball cap, a man's white button down shirt, 2 gold hoop earrings. Here's how she looked: Fabulous.  Immediately tan, ripped, with golden highlights in her lovely hair.
She could seem very social and yet I think she was also very private. She loved drinking wine while cooking and talking to neighbors on Fire Island, accumulating dinner guests as the afternoon wore on. As her sous chef that afternoon, I was exhausted and drunk by dinner, but Pat was the charming hostess, doling out enormous quantities of spaghetti carbonara and chicken marsala to the pile-on of people. How can you always be at home to anyone who puts their face up to your screen door?  "Don't you like privacy? I asked her.  I think maybe she didn't on Fire Island. 
That week in Aruba we sat a lot at the Tiki Tiki Bar, watching our young daughters do cartwheels in the sand.  We drank rum punch, talked about our mothers, men, Germaine Greer, Catholicism, and which writers sucked.  We were amazed to see the sun drop into complete and sudden darkness. Which, I was told, was what happens when you're on the equator.
Kathleen Lawrence

Mike and I were saddened to learn of Pat's passing.  I've known her since the late 60s and we became friends immediately.  Mike met her in the early 80s and became good friends with Pat; he always kidded her about being Calabrese!  We enjoyed her and Jennifer for many years.  We will miss her.
Lydia Carmody Pucci

I am shocked and saddened to learn of Pat's passing.  She and I worked together for many years and shared lunches, laughing and talking about life.  Once she left, she never forgot about me...occasionally calling to see how I was and ask about my family.  I still have cards that she wrote me lovely notes in, and I will treasure them dearly.  May she rest in peace among the angels.

I just want to send my deepest sympathy on the news of Pat. I just heard the sad news and can't believe it. Pat worked with me at Conair years ago and was a great friend! We have lots of great memories! Love, Toni Ann O'Brien  Norwalk, CT

Ron and I are sad about Pat's passing, she was mush too young. We send our love and thoughts to Jen and Heidi  Nancy & Ron Bush

I have known Pat for as long as I can remember and, to echo some of Nora's words, I also remember her as a gentle, free-spirit. Her trust in us kids was an amazing source of support. It is comfort to know that her beautiful nature lives on in Jenn and Lucia, and of course on Fire Island...

We were so saddened by the news of Pat's passing. We send our deepest sympathy to Jennifer and her family. We have such fond memories of Pat on the beach, she loved it so. We are sorry we won't see her there anymore.
George and Carole Kulman

We knew Pat, a lovely person, all these years. I recall her skillfully playing softball on the beach. Her daughter Jenn and my daughter Anna were buddies from early childhood. We'll miss Pat, and are thankful for our years of happy association.

I was so saddened to see Pat's name in today's obituary. Although it's been many years since I saw her last, I still remember her warmth and generosity...accompanying us on all our class trips and making a load of polka-dot kimonos for our class play.  I send my love and comfort to Jennifer, my former kindergartner, and hope this sad time will move as peacefully as possible into a time of many happy memories.

I am so very sorry to receive this sad news. Pat will be missed. She is a major part if my precious Fire Island memories. I send my condolences to the family.

Sad to hear about Pat's passing.  Lovely neighbor on Fire Island,  will be missed by community, JoAnne & Bob Spencer

So very sorry to hear of this; a lovely woman from a great family.

Pat Rizzuto was like a second mother to me growing up, her home a second home.  I must have visited her house almost every day after school and on weekends, and she drove me to school every day for 6 years! My parents and I couldn't believe our luck (well, as a five year old I might have expressed it differently) when Pat and Jenn moved in upstairs in our apartment building. Pat, thank you for letting Jenn have at least one Ken doll and those two Barbie cars. We went on vacation all together to Aruba, where Pat taught us all about how to just kick back and RELAX on a beach with a book. She was wonderfully skeptical of the niceties of everyday conversation and interactions, and taught me a lot about human nature. ("Have a nice day" has been purged from my vocabulary forever, as it is inane drivel that no one has ever said sincerely in the history of the world.) At the old house on Fire Island, she started me reading To Kill a Mockingbird (teaching me the expression "the former and the latter", something that I remember every time I use or see the phrase) and dealt with me night after night when Jenn could fall asleep and I couldn't. Later on, she was 100% the cool mom, the one who understood and tolerated (maybe even enjoyed!) us teenagers more than anyone else.  No matter my age, she was a great conversationalist; funny, warm, witty, and understanding; and a complete individual. I learned recently from Jenn that the reason she chose her house on Fire Island--her perfect, magical, serene house--was at least in part because of its proximity to a house that at the time was owned by Bob Dylan. I might be getting that somewhat wrong, but I loved hearing it, and love knowing that a place that had once had an amazing, specific, folksy, historical past has always continued to have a cosmic, metaphysical, beautiful presence for Pat and her friends and family. I know it was one of Pat's favorite places (OK, absolute favorite!) and I can say wholeheartedly that I haven't met anyone else able to give up the material concerns of the world and commune with nature and her surroundings quite in the same calm way as Pat. So much more to say. Pat you will be greatly missed and are enormously loved.

OBITUARY

Patricia A. Rizzuto

8 March, 1944 – 1 January, 2016

Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home

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