Pat Appel
Patricia Mary Appel, 88, a longtime resident of Garrison, died Oct. 13, 2017, at her home in Big Canoe, Georgia.
Pat was born on March 17, 1929 in the Bronx. Because her birthday was on St. Patrick’s Day, her parents, Norman and Marguerite Fisher, named her Patricia. She was the eldest and last surviving of their three children.
Pat graduated from St. Thomas Aquinas High School in the Bronx and started a career in business administration. She married Valentine Appel in 1951 and became a homemaker, raising four children with her husband, who was a Madison Avenue advertising executive.
Although born and raised under difficult economic circumstances during the Great Depression, Pat developed into a woman of sophistication and culture. She had great interest in music, art and travel. She was a supporter of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.
Pat performed with the Yorktown Community Players and had starring roles in their productions of Arsenic and Old Lace, Antigone and Death of a Salesman. She sang in the choir of Our Lady of Loretto in Cold Spring and most recently with Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church choir in Jasper, Georgia.
Pat studied piano and oil painting and was an avid traveler. Over the years, she visited destinations on all seven continents. As her children grew older, Pat continued her career in business office administration, working for Olivetti Corporation of America in Tarrytown, Hudson Wire Company in Ossining and Sporting News in New York City.
Once all four of Pat’s children completed college, she decided to go to college herself. At the age of 50, Pat was accepted to Vassar College and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in English literature. Pat used her degree as a volunteer for Literacy Action. She taught at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, tutoring non-English speaking inmates in reading and on the conventions of the English language.
Pat is survived by her children, Suzanne Appel Wilson of Big Canoe, Georgia, Marguerite Appel Gardner of Weaverville, North Carolina, Gregory V. Appel (Annamarie) of Port Jervis and William Appel (Juanita) of Woodstock, Georgia. She is also survived by her grandsons, Adam Wilson of Jacksonville, Florida; Jason Gardner of Alexander, North Carolina; Brandon Wilson of Woodstock, Georgia; and Justin Gardner of Alexander, North Carolina; as well as two great-grandsons.
A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Oct. 18 at Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Jasper, Georgia, with burial at Big Canoe Cemetery.
