Headlight Herald - Serving Tracy,
Minnesota, since 1880
Obituaries from the week of January 5, 2000
Patricia Donnelly, 86
Patricia J. Donnelly of Huron, SD, died on December 14, 1999, at her winter residence at Mesa, AZ. Her funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, January 12, 2000, at the Church of the Resurrection in Huron with Father Jo Holzaueor officiating. Burial will be at 3 p.m. Wed., January 12, at St. Mary's Calvary Cemetery at Tracy, MN. There will be a Scripture Service at 7 p.m. Tuesday, January 11, at the Welter Funeral Home in Huron, SD.
Patricia J. Garvin was born on March 17, 1913, to Jack and Rose (Garvey) Garvin at Albion, NE. As an infant she moved with her parents to Tracy, MN where she graduated from Tracy High School in 1932. She graduated from the Presentation School of Nursing (McKennan Unit) at Sioux Falls in 1938.
Following her graduation she worked as a nurse at Kahler Methodist Hospital at Rochester, MN, from 1938-1939, and at the Good Samaritan Hospital at Los Angeles, CA for one year.
On August 6, 1940, Patricia married Phillip “Mike” Douglas and they moved to Huron where she has lived since.
After her marriage she was employed in Huron as a nurse at the Samaritan Hospital, as a private duty nurse at the Sprague Hospital, and at St. John's Hospital when it opened.
From 1947-1953 she was the Evening Head Nurse on the Medical Floor at St. John's Hospital, becoming the Evening Supervisor in 1959, then the Clinical Supervisor at St. John's School of Nursing. During this time, in 1955, she was also the Director Nursing for the children at the Cerebral Palsy Center (Helen Buchanan School) at Huron.
She took additional courses at Huron College prior to her appointment as a school nurse in 1964, working until her resignation in 1974. She joined the Red Cross and was active in their disaster service going on many disaster assignments.
Her husband, Mike, died on October 24, 1978.
On January 3, 1983, Patricia married Clarence J. “Deke” Donnelly at St. Martins Catholic Church at Huron. The couple lived in Huron and spent a few months in Mesa, AZ during the winters. He died on July 6, 1998.
She was a member of the Holy Trinity Catholic Parish, a charter member of the Central South Dakota Cerebral Palsy Association, the South Dakota Nurses Association and Past President of District #12 South Dakota Nurses Association.
In addition to her husbands, she was preceded in death by her parents; and a daughter, Geralyn Douglas on January 12, 1966; and a brother, Graydon Garvin.
She is survived by one sister-in-law, Lillian Garvin; two nephews, Gary Garvin and Mark Garvin; one step-niece, Mary Ellen Lewis; and cousins, great-nieces and great-nephews.