C. Patricia O’Donnell, 94, died at home of heart failure in Bourne on Thursday, April 5, 2018 in the care of her family. With that she closed the final chapter of a life that very nearly spanned the entirety of the Twentieth Century.
She was born in Haverhill, MA to William S. and Marie Kelley and lived through the Great Depression with her three sisters and a widowed mother. She joined the WAVEs during WWII and was stationed on Cape Cod handling Morse Code messages. She attended Boston University on the GI bill receiving a BA and met her husband Bernard O’Donnell there. She also received an MA in Special Education from Antioch College. With him, she lived for several years in Wiesbaden, Germany before returning to the states to eventually settle in Maryland caring for her growing family and keeping up a tradition of spending every August at Seabrook Beach, NH, visiting relatives and soaking up the sun.
In retirement, she followed up on a determination to travel extensively and golfed in the Caribbean, cruised from Alaska to St. Petersburg, Russia, visited Ireland Timbuktu and Jerusalem among many other places. She was at all times remarkable for her fashion sense, poise and charm and was known to all as a true “lady”. She was a devout Catholic and made her final profession as a lay Carmilite with the St. John of the Cross community.
She is survived by her sons; Brian O’Donnell S.J., of Wheeling, W.V. and Michael O’Donnell of Bourne, her daughters; Maureen O’Donnell and Eileen Divver of both of Bourne and her granddaughters; Meaghan and Brigid Divver.
Her Funeral Mass will be held at 11:00 a.m.on Wednesday, April 18, 2018 at St. John the Evangelist Church 841 Shore Road Pocasset, MA. Burial is private.
