<div itemprop="description">Patricia Ann Steele, age 81, of Montreal, Canada passed away peacefully on October 13, 2022. Pat was preceded in death by her beloved younger brother, R. Allan Steele of Plano, TX in 2016. <br> <br>Pat was born on May 7, 1941, in Bucknall, England to Robert and Irene (Barber) Steele. In her mid-twenties and following university, Pat immigrated to Montreal, Canada where she would settle for the duration of her life. <br> <br>Pat was awarded state scholarships in English, French and Latin and received a B.A. in French (with honours) from Manchester University in England. An accomplished academic and lifelong learner, Pat also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris, France and at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. <br> <br>Pat was a well-respected executive with responsibility for pensions, spending most of her career working with her dear friend, Alan Lombard, at the Provincial Association of Protestant Teachers in Montreal. She retired in 1998. <br> <br>Following her retirement, Pat was an active member of the "peer-learning" McGill Community for Lifelong Learning, MCLL, (formerly the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement, MILR) particularly enjoying the Opera Study Groups led by the late (great) Rory O'Sullivan and Literature Study Groups led by Pamela Sachs; she also held the following offices in the organization: <br> <br>Executive Vice President 2010-2011 <br>President 2011-2012 <br>Past President 2012-2013 <br> <br>Pat was preceded in death by her close friend Mary Finnegan, a teacher originally from Western Australia. Mary and Pat met when their plane to London was cancelled because of a pre-Christmas snowstorm at Dorval. They were traveling separately, but Air Canada booked them into a shared hotel room, and they were friends ever after! Serendipitously, this led to another close friendship when Mary introduced Pat to Averill Craig (a fellow-student in a Concordia History class), a friendship that was to last over 40 years! <br> <br>For some time, Pat owned a wonderful cottage on Brome Lake in Quebec's Eastern Townships where her friends and family would often gather. Everyone has very fond memories of summers spent soaking up the sun and playing in the water. Often, winter holiday's were spent at the cottage, enjoying family meals together, movies, games and cocktails around the fire! <br> <br>Pat was also an excellent baker, a skill she learned early on from her mother. She was famous for her mincemeat pies and enjoyed picking berries in the countryside for fruit tarts. Her niece and nephew remember making homemade jam with her when they would visit her at the cottage for several weeks in the summer! <br> <br>Pat was also very active in her book club and often had perceptive and original insights during discussions. She had a keen appreciation for music, opera and for classical choral music in particular which led to her friendship with Wayne Riddell, founder of the Tudor Singers of Montreal, an organization on whose Board she sat for some years in the 1980’s. She supported the McGill opera, making sure to attend all the productions put on by the opera students in Pollack Hall every year, and she loved to travel for many summers to see some of the productions of Glimmerglass Opera in upper New York State. Trips to New York City to attend the MET opera, as well as to see Broadway musicals were a particular treat. <br> <br>As Pat was known to be very intelligent, she would often win at games of Trivial Pursuit. It was always a bit of a competition when it came to deciding whose team she would join. She was witty and at times could be quite sarcastic. Much like her brother, Allan, she had an incredibly dry sense of humor. She was a loyal and devoted friend, loved a good martini, and enjoyed reading and traveling. <br> <br>Pat had played tennis in her youth, but as breathing difficulties started to cut into her activities, she enjoyed watching birds and was a longtime supporter of the conservation of birds and their habitats. She was a member of “Bird Protection Quebec/Protection des oiseaux du Quebec “ and in the first decade of this century helped organize its annual “Bird Fair” held at Westmount High School. While she was still physically able she would participate from time to time in local field trips, but also occasionally enjoyed trips to more exotic birding locations when they did not require struggling through difficult terrain; this included one particularly memorable one to Trinidad and Tobago, where she loved being able to visit the Asa Wright Nature Centre, a location where she was able more or less to let the birds come to her. <br> <br>Pat is survived by many dear friends, her sister-in-law, Pat Steele of Plano, Texas; niece, Caroline Steele and her husband Berrick Abramson of Lakewood, Colorado; nephew Andrew Steele of Dallas, Texas; great-niece and nephew, Emily and Daniel Herren, and great-great nephew Jackson, all of Lakewood, Colorado. <br> <br>The Steele family would especially like to thank the doctors and nursing staff at Lakeshore General Hospital in Montreal for their dedication and exemplary care, as well as the Lombard and Oaten families for their friendship throughout Pat’s life and especially for their assistance to the Steele family in Pat’s final days. <br> <br>A celebration of Pat’s life is scheduled at 2pm on Saturday October 22, 2022 at the home of Alan and Susan Lombard. For details, please contact Carrie Steele: carriesteele76@gmail.com or +1 (303) 910-6169 <br> <br>In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Pat’s honor to Bird Protection Quebec by clicking the "Make a Donation" button at the bottom of this page. <br></div>
