Pat Gray was the first child of Bernard Gray and Mary O’Brien Gray. She was born on July 26 in 1932, the feast of St. Ann, so she was baptized Patricia Ann Gray. She was born in Jackson Heights. Pat would live her entire life in apartments in Jackson Heights and Woodside. Pat had three siblings, Mary, Bernard (Buddy), and Joan.
Pat attended St. Sebastian School in Woodside from first to eighth grade. A subway ride took Pat to Brooklyn, where she attended Bishop McDonnell Memorial High School. She took an academic track in high school and upon graduation in 1950, she landed her first job at The Hanover Bank on 5th Avenue and 60th Street – directly across from Central Park. That first job set the course for her entire career, even as the New York banking world morphed and spun around her. The Hanover Bank, where Pat learned banking principles from strict German supervisors, merged with an American mercantile institution that became Manufacturers Hanover Bank. Pat, who had learned that bankers don’t go home until they proved accounts to the penny, was now in an environment where they often balanced to the nearest thousands of dollars at the end of the day.
Pat’s banking career found her working at some of the most iconic buildings in Manhattan. After the elegant Hanover Bank, Pat worked at The Union Carbide Building in midtown, and then the Woolworth Building downtown, and finally at the World Trade Center’s North Tower. Pat avoided the desk jobs that would require balancing checkbooks for hapless customers. Hers was the banking of massive short-term corporate loans, and international currency rate fluctuations. Along the way Pat attended the American Institute of Banking where she earned high grades. Toward the end of her working career, she taught banking systems to newly hired management trainees. Pat had retired long before the bombing of the World Trade Center. After 9-11 she could not bring herself to go to the financial district.
Pat remained friends throughout her lifetime with the girls she met in high school. She was an accomplished tailor, sewing dresses and gowns for herself and her sister Joan. Pat knitted and crocheted. She imported wool from the Aran Islands so she could knit authentic Irish fisherman’s sweaters for family members and the children of her friends. Her attention to detail in sewing and knitting seemed to be a physical manifestation of her careful, analytical banking experience. When Joan and Vern adopted their son David, one of Pat’s friends re-gifted a child’s Irish sweater that Pat had knitted for her son many years before.
Pat enjoyed skiing, making yearly trips to Switzerland with a group of friends. Their favorite resort was Zermatt. Pat also skied the mountains of upstate New York and Vermont. Pat travelled extensively, either with a group of friends or on her own. England, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Kenya, Tanzania, Hong Kong, Japan, Hawaii, and Tahiti were all ports of call. In later years, Pat traveled by cruise ship to Canada, the Caribbean, Alaska, and Norway.
Ballet was a passion for Pat and she shared that enthusiasm with her sister Joan. New York was a mecca for both the New York City Ballet and touring companies from London, Stuttgart, Moscow, and Kiev. It was not unusual to attend two ballet performances a week at Lincoln Center. Pat was a financial supporter of the American Ballet Theater. As a perk, she attended student rehearsals and saw the up and coming stars of the City Ballet.
Continuing education classes kept Pat busy after work. She studied Chinese brush painting, working on silk, canvas, and ceramics. Many of her paintings hang in her apartment. She also took computer classes at LaGuardia Community College.
For many years Pat volunteered as the treasurer of her cooperative apartment building. Pat has lived in that cooperative apartment building since 1960.
Pat loved her nieces and nephews. She shared her time and talent with them.
Especially close to Pat are her niece Marria McKenzie and partner Ronnie Bock. They were her caregivers and companions. They have showered her with love this past decade.
Pat is survived by her sister Joan Gray Lindberg.
She is also survived by her nieces Sharon Grogan, Darlene Pelella, Marria McKenzie, and Jennifer Cardinal.
Pat is survived by her nephews David and Daniel Lindberg.
Pat was predeceased by her parents, Bernard and Mary O’Brien Gray, her brother Buddy, her sister Mary, and her brother-in-law Vern Lindberg.
Words that describe Pat:
Ethical, Careful, Generous, Analytical, Creative, Private, Independent, Stylish, and Artistic
May the angels welcome Pat to paradise.
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