Patricia Lu Bessel Hiro

Pat died of lung cancer which was a recent result of the treatment she had received 29 years earlier for Hodgkin’s decease. She was born on April 5, 1955 to now deceased Henry and Jennie (Ruppell) Bessel and grew up in Danbury where she attended Danbury public schools and attended Southern Connecticut State College.

For many years, Pat worked for the American Cyanamid company’s wound closure division, Davis & Geck, until their closing and then went on to work at the Canterbury School in New Milford for 19 years, 18 as Assistant to the Headmaster.

Pat was creative and used her talents to help others which brought her much joy. She was a Girl Scout Leader to one of the largest troops in New Milford, the founding president of the New Milford Swim Team Parents Association, Member and Chairperson of the Commission of Headmaster’s Assistants for the Connecticut Association of Independent Schools, a CCD teacher for Our Lady of the Lakes Religious Education program in New Milford and was a Notary Public for the State of Connecticut.

She enjoyed sharing her life and just goofing around with her beloved husband and lover Paul Hiro. Her daughter, Tara Hiro who will be married in May of 2015 to Chris Ferrante, and her son Thomas Hiro and his wife Lindsay (Russell) all gave her life meaning and taught her so much about love. She also enjoyed horseback riding, walking for hours with her long time best friend, Souby, who was like a part of her.

Besides her immediate family, Pat leaves behind her four siblings: brother Henry “Skip” Bessel and his wife, Maggie; her oldest sister Connie and husband, Bill Strait; sister Denise and husband, Amin Pandofi; and sister Lori and husband, Chris Wallace. Eleven nieces and nephews: Heidi Cheldnick, Adam Bessel, Catie Scott; Greg Strait; Christine Baker; Stacy Butler; Ryan Slater; Amy Conte; Kimmy Howell; Brooke Schumacher; and Godson Brian Stoner. In addition she leaves behind her brother-in-laws and sister-in-laws who were loved very much and more like blood relatives than in-laws and who always made her feel loved and whose strength in faith helped her own to grow, her many friends especially the GW girls who helped maintain her for years with love, humor, cocktails and plenty of bacon, and her constant companion, Baxter, who was a gift from God at an important time in her life and finally, she leaves behind her many cousins and work associates who all enriched her life in ways they will never know but have help shape her into the person she became.