Patricia M. Meade

Patricia Schmitt Meade, age 100, passed away in Glen Ellyn, IL on March 4, 2025. She was a devoted wife of 67 years to the late Thomas J. Meade. She is survived by 7 children, Anita Calistro (late Tom), Christopher Meade (Joy), Dennis Meade (Kathleen), Mary Anne Meade, Matthew Meade (Marcia), Peter Meade, and David Meade (Beth Regan). Two additional children, Thomas Jr. and Jude, died early in life. She was grandmother to 16 and great-grandmother to 8, and infallibly remembered everyone’s birthday. Sister of the late Betty Sansbury (late John), the late Hub Schmitt (late Pat) and the late Don Schmitt (late Carolyn) and aunt of many nieces and nephews.

Pat grew up in Decatur, Indiana. She attended St. Mary’s Grammar School and Decatur Catholic High School. Ever the intrepid adventurer, Pat moved to Evanston, IL, after high school graduation, and began training at St. Francis School of Nursing from 1942 to 1945. She had aspired to become a US Navy nurse. However, with the end of the war in sight, she switched focus to obstetrical nursing. Her post graduate work included study at Loyola University in Chicago and Margaret Hague Maternity Center of Jersey City, New Jersey. A life-long commitment to obstetrical nursing led her to working for the Chicago Maternity Center, facilitating home deliveries for poor families on Chicago's South Side.

She married Thomas Meade in 1951. While devotedly raising her large family, she worked many night shifts at local hospitals: St. Anne's, West Suburban, and Oak Park Hospital. She changed medical pursuits in 1974 and became an American Red Cross (LifeSource) site supervisor for blood drives.

She retired from active employment in 1994. Walking humbly with her God, she contributed to the work and mission of the Catholic Church, volunteering for many years as a Eucharistic Minister bringing communion to the homebound. In addition to helping at the Second Hand Rose resale shop in Oak Park, Pat volunteered at Misericordia Heart of Mercy as well as the Oak Park Department of Public Health. She was active in St. Angela parish, Resurrection parish, and in its later form, in St. Thomas Aquinas-Resurrection. In all these parishes, she gravitated toward work as an organizer and leader. Flower gardening and traveling were her passions and she did both routinely and enthusiastically. But, family and friends will remember her most for her delicious dinners and gracious entertaining. She also made cookie-baking an art form.

A visitation will be held Wednesday, March 12, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. followed by the funeral at 11:00 a.m., both at St. Joan of Arc Church, 820 Division Street, Lisle, IL.

In lieu of flowers, Pat's wish was for donations to Misericordia Home or Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Chicago, organizations with missions close to her heart.

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