Patricia Calabrese

Patricia Calabrese nee Drew was born in Cornwall, England, to Orlando—a WWI veteran and businessman—and Nellie Drew. She and her younger brother Denis grew up in the same village as the later-famous British writer, Daphne de Maurier, and her family. 

As a child, Patricia endured the horrors of the Second World War, at times taking shelter while bombs rained on her homeland. She delighted in the occasional fresh orange or chocolate bar her father would procure for her. Patricia made her way to America in 1947, attending high school in Ironwood, Michigan, then nursing school in Missouri. There, Patricia met Carmelo (Cal) Calabrese on a blind date. Cal was a U.S. Marine and soon-to-be graduate student in electrical engineering. The two first-generation Americans spent the rest of their lives together, rarely apart for the next seven decades. Patricia and Cal had a strong, loving marriage; raised two children; traveled throughout the United States; and visited Great Britain from time to time, a country they both loved. Patricia became a U.S. citizen in 1956. She worked as an operating room nurse (RN) until she had her children, then held a variety of nursing supervisory positions, and then became a school nurse. At a time when few women did such things, Patricia studied for and obtained her private pilot’s license. She made her first solo flight with her proud husband and children looking on. Later, when Cal took a new job and the family moved to Connecticut, Patricia promptly took up the demanding sport of cross-country skiing in the winter months. She was a small, slight woman but tough and fearless. 

Patricia was also a self-taught expert at knitting/needlepoint, and she dearly loved her two Yorkshire Terriers. Over the years, she maintained several endearing British routines and predilections—including drinking hot tea four times a day and eating her regular Cadbury chocolate, a treat that Cal always ensured she had on hand. As children, Debbie and Denis often watched Patricia make "candy bar sandwiches"--a holdover from the war consisting of a chocolate bar between two slices of buttered bread. The kids were also familiar with the dreaded Marmite sandwich, which Patricia unsuccessfully dared her children to eat. Patricia died two months to the day after Cal passed away, and three days after what would have been the couple's 70th wedding anniversary. 

She is survived by her two children (Debbie and Denis), four grandchildren (Daniel and wife Katie; Lisa and husband Ray; Drew; and Grace and mother Toby), and three great grandchildren (Henry, Theo, and Jackson); and special friend, "adopted" daughter Deanna.