Patricia Maslanka, a long-time Madison resident, died Monday, December 12. She was 88.
Born Patricia McGovern in 1927, in a house that her parents built at 98 Park Avenue in Madison, she was the youngest of three siblings. Along with her brother, Daniel, and her sister, Betty, her cousin Jackie was practically another brother, living next door as part of the extended family circle that included her father’s parents and siblings. Her mother emigrated from Ireland at 16, and her relatives settled in Brooklyn NY. Patricia attended St. Vincent Martyr Elementary School when it was located on Cook Avenue, and Madison High School in the building that is now the Middle School.
After high school, Patricia worked in a local bank, learning skills that she would use throughout her life, including contributing them to a community finance committee on which she served just two years ago.
Patricia married John L. Maslanka in 1953. The couple moved to Perth Amboy NJ, and gave birth to her eldest son, Brian there. The family relocated to Santa Barbara, CA shortly afterward, another son, Stephen, was born, but died at fifteen months old due to heart failure. Robert was born in 1959, and when he was three, the family moved to Fort Wayne, IN. In 1968, they moved back to the family home on Park Avenue in Madison. There, the family welcomed a new baby, Richard, in 1969. Patricia worked for several years at Prudential in Hanover Park, NJ, retiring in her mid-sixties to lovingly care for her husband. When he died in 1997, Patricia became a world traveler, visiting places in Eastern and Western Europe, as well as South America. With a group of very close friends, she also became an avid gym member, cinephile, theater-goer, and reader, and became involved in the lives of her 10 grandchildren.
Patricia lived at Park Avenue until 2013, when she moved to Loudoun County Virginia, where she was involved in the community association as well as an active member of its social life. In 2015, after a fall, she moved to Acorn Glen in Princeton, N.J., where she died.
Patricia is survived by three sons, Brian of Herndon, VA, Robert of Princeton, NJ, and Richard of Lebanon NJ., as well as 10 grandchildren, Corrina of Watertown, MA, Meghan of New Orleans, LA, Christopher of NY, Mark, Jeffery, Rebecca, Carolyn, and Sara of Princeton, NJ, Emelia and Owen of Lebanon NJ.
Family and friends are welcome to gather on Thursday, December 15, 2016, from 6-8 pm at Burroughs, Kohr & Dangler Funeral Home, 106 Main St., Madison, NJ 07940. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, December 16, 2016 at 10:00am at St. Thomas More Church, Morristown, NJ. Interment will follow at St. Vincent Cemetery, Noe Ave & Shunpike Road, Madison, NJ.
