By Lauren FitzPatrick
Staff writer
A whiz with math, Patricia Curran taught hundreds of high school students who passed through her classroom over 37 years.
More importantly to her, she taught by example what she believed were life’s greater lessons.
“To live to be morally correct, and to stand up for what is right, and to be kind, patient and loving to society,” said her sister, Kathleen Curran. “She didn’t push values on people, but she thought that if they saw her example they might follow.”
Miss Curran died Jan. 6 after a decade-long struggle with cancer at age 62.
Miss Curran was born in Evergreen Park, a town she would call home her entire life.
She was the second of four children, and the oldest daughter. When in high school, she took charge of the household for her mother when her grandmother became very sick and went into a coma that lasted 14 months.
She showed an early aptitude for numbers and a love of mathematics, which she demonstrated while running the household.
When it came time to redo a section of concrete between the porch and the garage, she calculated the amount of material it would take before calling any contractors.
“So she goes to a cement contractor — she had it down to the last thing,” Curran said. “And the guy who was in business was gonna give her more cement than she needed, and she said, ‘You gotta be kidding,’ so she didn’t take that advice.”
In the end, not only was she right, but she saved a bundle.
“They didn’t come up with the right numbers,” Curran said. “So she got the best deal because they were going to prove her wrong — and they had egg on their face.”
Miss Curran was known as a special kind of teacher whose true talent lay in her ability to adapt her expertise to others, perhaps because she always stopped to think before opening her mouth.
“She knew how to teach — she would take the kid at his or her level and work with that,” her sister said. “Our parents always said out of the four children, she was the one that would observe before speaking.”
Miss Curran graduated from St. Xavier College in 1964 and got a job at Fenger High School in Chicago’s West Pullman community, where she taught math for 15 years.
Eager to hone her skills, she completed a master’s program in mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
She then went to work at Kennedy High School near Midway Airport, where she headed the math department until retiring in 2002.
A devout woman, she was very active at Most Holy Redeemer parish in Evergreen Park. She belonged to the Women’s Guild, and she and her sister served as Eucharistic ministers. Per her request, her sister would take communion to her in the hospital on those rare occasions her chemotherapy left her too sick to go to Mass.
Miss Curran also was a proud member of the Aquin Guild, a professional organization for Catholic teachers who work in public schools, named for the Catholic scholar St. Thomas Aquinas.
Her faith helped her in the end, once she knew the cancer was going to take her, Curran said.
“At the last week, she thought she would have more time,” her sister said. “But in her Christmas letters, she had somewhat said goodbye in a nice way — without saying goodbye.”
Miss Curran also is survived by two brothers, Edward Curran and the Rev. William Curran; many nieces and nephews; a grand-niece and three grand-nephews; and countless students.
Arrangements were by King Brothers Funeral Directors, (773) 776-7776.
Lauren FitzPatrick may be reached at lfitzpatrick@dailysouthtown.com or (708) 633-5964.
