Patricia Neary Stewart passed away on May 18, 2022. We learned of her passing from her husband Hugh who shared that she valued the excellent education she received in her years at Dwight. Her obituary was published by Null & Son Funeral Home:

“Patricia Neary Stewart was born the eldest child of John F. Neary, Jr. and Rosalia Bushnell Ingham on February 21, 1938 in Englewood, New Jersey. Her father’s active duty during the Korean War took the family for two years in Sendai, Japan. Graduating from Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School she entered the College of Wooster in Ohio where she graduated with a major in English. She earned a Masters from Case Western in Cleveland which took her to suburban Philadelphia to teach English at the Ellis School for Girls.

Becoming a member of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church, she joined the choir and the single adult group. Not long after, she met, started dating, became engaged and married the new assistant minister Hugh V. Stewart. A year later, they moved to suburban Detroit, Farmington Hills, where their two daughters, Rosalia and Amy, were born and Pat became both a gardener and an Avon Lady.

Moving to Grand Blanc, a suburb of Flint, Pat continued singing in the choir and digging in the dirt along with teaching English at Mott Junior College. Being the wife of a Presbyterian minister, she traveled with him to Rolla in 1989 where she joined the University faculty as an Instructor in English. It was then she got really serious about plants and became a Master Gardener.

When Hugh left to begin interim ministry, Pat became part of Christ Episcopal Church, the choir and a garden for their flower beds. For a number of years, especially after her retirement, you could see her happily nurturing appropriate growing things. During that time Pat became an Eucharistic Minister which led to her profession as a lay member of the Third Order of St. Francis. It was only in more recent years as the dementia progressed that it was necessary for Pat to leave Eucharistic Ministry, the choir and the plants behind. She has been well cared for by Oak Pointe of Rolla andin her concluding days by Three Rivers Hospice.

Her husband, Hugh; daughter, Rosalia and husband, John Meusch and children – Stewart, Rosalia and Lydia; and daughter, Amy and husband, Dennis Cook and children – Madison Hay and Aiden Jones survive; along with brothers Michael and Robert Neary and sister, Sheila Prezzano.”