IN MEMORIUM: PATRICIA RYAN SEXTON BOYLAN

August 2002 - The passing of Patricia Ryan Sexton Boylan on July 6, 2002 was not only a loss for our St. Elizabeth community, but the many others with whom she shared her talents and love so enthusiastically. She will be sorely missed.

Before retirement, Mrs. Boylan’s most recent role had been as a guidance counselor for Home Instruction Schools where, among her many other contributions, she developed a program to raise the reading level of older students using Channel 13’s “Learn to Read” series. This position followed a long career in guidance, teaching, grant-writing and directing religious education and a parents’ association, working in both the public and Catholic school systems.

But to us she will long be remembered as a beloved alumna of the St. Elizabeth class of 1954 and for her return to the school years later as a dedicated teacher. Her alma mater always remained close to her heart.

“She truly loved St. Elizabeth School and cherished the time she spent here and the friendships that lasted throughout her life,” says Principal Sr. Noreen Nolan. Mrs. Boylan had planned a 60th Birthday Celebration that was to have been a benefit for St. Elizabeth School, and for the children that she cared so much about.

In March 1997, she was named Irishwoman of the Year by the Emerald Society of the City of New York Board of Education, to honor her many years of service. They wrote that she was “indeed, a woman whose vivacity, empathy, and professionalism have endeared so many.”

Mrs. Boylan was a graduate of Dominican, Lehman and New Rochelle colleges, receiving master’s degrees in guidance and counseling and in administration and supervision.

She was a resident of Sherman, Connecticut, where she moved in September 2000 from Northport, Long Island, with her husband Hugh Boylan. Mrs. Boylan is also survived by her brother Tom Ryan (a 1959 graduate), one son, five stepsons, a granddaughter, two nieces, and a great-niece. She was 61.