Patricia Mary Gravelle Keith, born June 23, 1931 in Watertown, NY, died peacefully on March 29, 2019, in Lawrenceville, NJ. Pat made Skillman, NJ, her home for more than 40 years. Pat was a Registered Nurse whose path began as valedictorian of her high school class at Immaculate Heart Academy in Watertown. Pat went on to become top of her class at Mercy Hospital Nursing School, also in Watertown. She won a scholarship to Georgetown University where she graduated in 1950 while working full time at Georgetown University Hospital. While living and working in Washington DC, she met Percy C. Keith III of Peapack, NJ, whom she married in 1955. They relocated to Skillman, NJ, in 1962 where they raised their three children, Percy, Mary Ellen, and Robert.
In 1971, the family moved to the Netherlands and lived abroad in The Hague, where Pat became a valued member of The American Women’s Guild of The Hague and shared her love of books as a volunteer librarian at the American Women’s Club. She enjoyed traveling throughout Europe and the British Isles with family and acquired an avid vocation of brass-rubbing artwork, producing a collection of rubbings in Gothic cathedrals from Liege to Amboise.
Returning to Skillman in 1976 after five years abroad, Pat was a tireless and valued volunteer at the Mary Jacobs Library in Rocky Hill. She also embarked on a career in home tile furnishings with the former Terra Cotta company of Princeton and Hopewell Borough.
Among Pat’s unique personal gifts was her affinity and gifts for working with animals. She was affectionately known by friends as the neighborhood "vet" and as an animal lover who treasured a variety of pets throughout her life. It was not unusual for Pat to be in her yard gardening and wild deer would walk tight up her, knowing they were safe in the company of ‘The Lady’, as close friends came to know her and her relationship with nature’s creatures
In 2001 Pat suffered a major stroke following triple pass heart surgery. Her indomitable spirit enabled Pat to live on and thrive, becoming a beloved member of the St Joseph’s Residential Care Community in Lawrenceville. Surrounded by nursing staff, her "people", Pat became known to all staff as "Head Nurse", and soon, echoing her determined spirit to live on in joy, adopted her lifelong catch phrase, "Get a grip!" Pat’s bright light, her positivity, and her stubborn upstate-New-York independence were infectious, buoying the lives of all who were blessed to know her.
Pat is preceded by her beloved daughter, Mary Ellen F. Keith who died in 1987, her equally beloved daughter-in-law, Carrie Blessing Keith – who died last fall, her parents Cameron and Ellen “Fitz” Gravelle, her brother John “Moose” Gravelle, and her former husband, Percy. She is survived by her two sons, Robert Cameron Keith and Percy C. Keith IV, and her only cherished granddaughter, Katie Ellen F. Keith. A Catholic burial Mass will be celebrated Saturday, May 4, 2019 at Saint Alphonsus Church at 11 am, both in Hopewell Borough, NJ. An internment in Highlands Cemetery will follow immediately. A Remembrance & Celebration of Life Luncheon will held at Hopewell Valley Golf Club following the internment.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that donations be made to Pat’s favourite charity:
Anchor House
482 Centre Street
Trenton, NJ 08611