July 2021 | Vol. 17 Iss. 07
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THE MYSTERY OF GRANDMA PAT (SOMEWHAT) REVEALED By Cassie Goff | c.goff@mycityjournals.com
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oward the beginning of the pandemic, Cottonwood Heights residents were finding packaged homemade loaves of bread on their front porches signed from Grandma Pat. As everyone was stuck at home, it soon became the scuttlebutt of the city that a mysterious anonymous grandma was delivering homemade bread to various families. Grandma Pat became such a phenomenon in the city’s mythos that she even became a verb. Many were posting in various resident groups about how they got “Grandma Pat-ed.” Some of the first reports of gifted bread began in September last year. “I was blessed by Grandma Pat today! I’ve seen other posts about this beautiful mystery woman delivering baked goods to others in our neighborhood,” wrote Michelle Pickering on Facebook. Grandma Pat ramped up her bread production during the holidays of 2020. “She has made almost 600 loaves of bread since COVID-19 started,” wrote Kim Thomas on Nextdoor in November. To add to the mystery, residents began posting about how ninja-like Grandma Pat was. She was quick when doorbell ditching residents only to leave loaves of bread. “Grandma Pat is stealthy! How did you get past our Ring camera?!” posted Rhonda Roth on Nextdoor. Residents have been wondering who this elusive Grandma Pat is. “I keep reading about Grandma Pat—who is she, why does she do this, how long has it been going on, has she lived in CH forever?” asked Michele Belmore on Nextdoor. (As per Grandma Pat’s request, her name will remain anonymous.) The woman behind Grandma Pat is an 85-year-old widow who lives within the area. A few years ago, she decided to serve a senior service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was only a few months into her missionary work when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. As the world was forced to stay at home and work remotely, so were the
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Grandma Pat’s wheat bread marks a special occasion to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for many residents. (Cassie Goff/City Journals)
missionaries. Many turned to Facebook groups and other sources of connecting with people via the internet. Grandma Pat tried her best with the new medium of missionary work. However, since she was not living with a household of female companions as most of the full-time missionaries were, she found missionary work online to be a struggle.
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“I’m not very good with technology. I was calling my mission companion daily,” Grandma Pat said. Instead, she decided to turn to the vintage technology of telephones. She began making phone calls in attempts to continue her missionary work. However, she soon found that to be difficult as well. “People don’t answer their Continued page 2
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