Patricia Ann Blair

Patricia Blair, 78, of East Hartford passed away peacefully after a short battle with cancer. She was born in Providence, RI to Walter and Mary Perkins (O’Brien) and had one brother, Walter, Jr. The family moved to East Hartford when Patty was very young and settled on Greenwood Street. She attended East Hartford High School and graduated in 1963. She married young and settled into life raising her two children, Kristin and Michael.

As a young mother, Patty, took an interest in ceramics. She was an exceptional painter and soon began teaching ceramics at Lynn & Fran’s Ceramic Studio on Burnside Avenue, East Hartford. As her children grew, she entered the workforce. First along side her mother Mary, at Mary’s Luncheonette located on Main Street across from Coca-Cola, and then as a customer service rep at Cheney Brothers in Manchester.

Pat was very active in the Women of the Moose, Chapter 1470, East Hartford, CT. She was nominated and elected to the positions of Senior Regent, Secretary, and Treasurer. And she earned the higher degrees of Academy of Friendship, Star Recorder, and College of Regents while supporting Mooseheart, Moosehaven, and the local community. Sunday breakfasts, Halloween Parties, New Years Eve celebrations, Friday night Dinners, and the Children’s Christmas Parties were successfully executed by a team of women, including her very capable hands.

In the mid 1980’s, she left CT when Cheney Brother’s moved to South Carolina. While there, she joined a theater group called The Playmakers and attended Florence-Darlington Technical College to begin an accounting program. After a few years, she was again transferred, this time to Wilkes-Barre, PA where she settled into the role of assistant to the comptroller of American Silk.

She returned to East Hartford in 1994. She worked for the CT State Marshall, Jay-Jay as a clerk and resumed her WOTM work. Together, they hosted holiday “misfit” dinners! No one should be alone for a holiday!! Her greatest pride was accepting the nomination in 2018 to be Connecticut’s Grand Regent, an honor that was conferred to her at the National Moose Convention in New Orleans! An avid card player, she also organized the Moose Lodge’s Set- Back league for years.

While raising her children, Patty dabbled in sewing projects. She made clothes, Christmas stockings, curtains, and simple quilts. After returning to East Hartford, she took up quilting with a passion. She belonged to two quilting groups, Tolland Homestead Quilters and the Ellington Country Quilters. She enjoyed shop hops, retreats, the Vermont Quilt Festival, and of course, the friendships and camaraderie she had with her “quilting friends”.

She artfully pieced many many many quilts and helped many other quilters choose patterns and fabrics while working at Quilting By The Yard in Vernon, CT. She loved the customers, the fabric, and the classes while she worked retail!! Her skill at color matching/coordination of fabrics was top notch and her passion for the craft gave her great satisfaction and purpose.

She will be greatly missed by her daughter, Kristin Bradley and son, Michael Blair and his partner, Norma Mello. Her four grandchildren, Dylan, Danielle, Katie, and Logan, all received quilts, hand pieced and gifted by Gramma Pat which now have even more meaning. She will be missed by her “quilting daughter”, Suzanne.

Calling hours will be held on Thursday, October 19 from 4 – 7pm at the D’Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, 30 Carter Street East Hartford. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made in Patricia’s name to Hartford HealthCare Hospice, 1290 Silas Deane Hwy Wethersfield, CT 0109. A heartfelt thank you goes out to the staff there that took care of Patricia. For on-line expressions of sympathy to the family please visit www.desopoeh.com.

“Their grief is in proportion to their affection. They know their loss to be irreparable”