3 minute read
A Felicitous Centenarian
Above: Lyn Brown, Pat Prendergast (centre), Meg Barry - President of the Past Pupils Association
Words by Pat Prendergast & Judy-Ann Quilliam
When we sent proud Loreto community member, Pat Prendergast, an email to wish her a happy 100th birthday in January, she responded immediately online to tell us about her day. We knew then that we had to interview this spritely and felicitous centenarian for Verity.
Email may seem an odd choice of communication for a centenarian, but not for Pat. In fact, email has been her saving grace throughout the lonely days of Covid-19 restrictions with no visitors permitted to her residential care home. On the day I visited Pat, she was sitting up with her iPad eagerly waiting for me to arrive and cursing because she had hurt her arm and could not type.
Patricia (Pat) Prendergast (nee O’Sullivan) grew up in Adelaide and her strong longterm connection with Loreto schools started when she attended Loreto Marryatville for her primary and secondary years. Her family home was located just over the road from the school grounds and she has very fond memories of the school and the Loreto nuns.
Pat was a very shy little girl, and she remembers spending some lunch times sitting in the corner of the playground reading a book. However, one of Pat’s fondest memories of Loreto Marryatville was when a teacher asked her to show the whole school how to march properly. She was only in Grade 4 or 5, but she held her head high and lifted he knees and that was the proudest march she ever performed. Pat was also proud to be head of the day scholars table for the last couple of years of her school life and in 1936, she was voted one of four Head Prefects by her student peers. The love Pat developed for school was so strong that she followed her heart into the profession of teaching.
Pat married and moved to Ballarat in 1946 with her husband. Together they raised three daughters (Mary, Ann, and Eileen) and five sons; the girls all attended both Loreto Dawson Street and Mary’s Mount. When her eighth child was 18 months old, Pat was asked to help out in an emergency and taught Grade 2 at Mary’s Mount for six weeks when a staff member was ill.
Pat continued with her teaching and taught at St Aloysius in Redan, where the Principal at the time was Mother Anthony ibvm (who had taught her for her First Communion in Adelaide). Mother Anthony shared great joy to have one of her own teaching with her. She taught on and off for many years and was finally Principal of Clarkes Hill Primary School before retiring at the age of 60.
Pat’s long-term connection to Loreto Ballarat was cemented when Mary’s Mount and Dawson Street schools amalgamated to form Loreto College Ballarat in 1978. At the advice of Mother Theodore Gillick ibvm (a past pupil of Loreto Marryatville), Pat was elected to be President of the new Loreto Ballarat Past Pupil’s Association (PPA). Her three daughters had attended both Ballarat schools and she was a Loreto Marryatville past pupil, so she would be a good independent leader. Pat proudly performed the roles of President, Secretary and Treasurer for many years. Her love for Loreto schools was such that she also enjoyed representing the Ballarat PPA at the Loreto Mandeville Hall Ball each year.
One of Pat’s most important initiatives in her term as President, was to sponsor a child in India through the Ryder Cheshire Foundation. Her brother was a Jesuit priest and worked as a Missionary in India, so she was well aware of the plight of these children. This would become a long-lasting relationship with Pat continuing as a member of the Foundation for many years and Mornane House continuing with an annual fundraiser.
Pat celebrated her 100th Birthday in January with 150 of her family and friends at the Creswick Football Club. With 31 grandchildren and 24 great-grandchildren, it is not surprising that it would need a football club to fit everyone in. It was quite the occasion and Pat thoroughly enjoyed the day.
Pat Prendergast continues to be a proud Loreto community member. On the wall beside her bed is a beautiful painting of the Loreto Marryatville gardens, and at 100 years of age she still exudes the Loreto felicitous qualities of cheerfulness, good humour, joy, happiness, hope, optimism, friendliness, courtesy, positive thinking, inner peace, self-acceptance and courage.
