Patricia Ann Gandsey

Birth: July 22, 1933 | Died: June 19, 2023

Patricia Gandsey was born in Chicago Illinois, on July 22, 1933. She was the only child of Francis and Ester Maguire. She grew up in a loving household where family values and the Catholic faith were instilled in her. She attended mass each Sunday (until she was unable to). She is survived by her children, Mary Kay Kert and William Gandsey and along with her grandchildren – Alexandra Patricia Mikhail, Miles William Gandsey and Francis Pio Gandsey. She was a devoted mother to her children and her grandchildren.

She attended St. Michaels High school and Northwestern University. In Chicago. She majored in English studies and this education became her foundation to become a teacher. She taught English at a college level, she taught English as a second language to many institutions, and she also taught Catholic Catechism on many weekends. This amazing trait exemplified her life – a life of service through volunteering and assisting others is truly a part of her legacy.

Our mother met the eternal love of her life while she volunteered at the USO – an organization that serves US servicemen and women. Although our father passed thirty years ago, my mother still considered herself in love and married to our father at the time she left us.

Our mother had exceptional administrative skills within her dedication to volunteering. She was elected three times to act as a board president to the Ebell Club, numerous times to be the president of the Orange County Literacy Guild, chairwoman of the Phoenix Association, and president of the Purple Hat Society in Orange County. One of her most important contributions was her volunteering as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Joseph’s hospital in Orange. She assisted those in need there for over twenty-five years. She became a Eucharist Minister here at her church, St. Norberts. She practiced her faith daily and lived her life the way that Jesus taught her to.

Vigil Services will be on July 5th, from 5:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. at Hilgenfeld Mortuary.

Funeral mass will be at St. Norberts Church on July 6th, at 10:00 A.M. Graveside service to follow at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. A memorial lunch will be held after the graveside service at Da Bianca Trattoria Restaurant located at 7448 E. Chapman Ave Orange.