Patricia Marshall "Patty" Mulligan

MULLIGAN, Patricia Marshall, “Patty”, age 93, of Kettering, passed away Tuesday, May 4, 2021 of cancer at Hospice of Dayton. Born to Thomas Elder Marshall and Emelyn (Crume) Lytle Marshall, Patty was the eldest of four siblings and a life-long Dayton area resident. She graduated from Harman Avenue Elementary School and Oakwood High School. She attended Ogontz Junior College in Pennsylvania and graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a history degree in 1950. To enjoy life in her favorite city, New York, she worked there for a year after college. She then returned to Dayton and worked at Marks Travel Service.

In 1955, she married James J. Mulligan, a Dayton lawyer, and three well-loved children followed. The family took many wonderful trips but especially enjoyed their summer vacations in Bay View, MI, where Patty spent every summer as a child, and their ski vacations in nearby Harbor Springs, MI, where her parents retired. After raising her children, Patty returned to work at Marks Travel. She and Jim spent much time in the 1980s-90s at their condo in Snowmass, CO. Patty especially enjoyed the summer music festival and hiking with Jim in the Snowmass and Aspen areas. They encountered a bear once. The bear fortunately was busy, but Patty received “bear bells” for her 70th birthday. In later years, Patty loved reconnecting with her Bay View friends, the people who knew her longest, when she and the family started going back there in the summer.

Patty loved to travel, and she eventually visited all 50 states, travelling mostly with Jim. She was passionate about theater and dance, getting to New York whenever she could. She was a committed volunteer for the Dayton Ballet after the kids were grown, an early devotee of Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, and a docent at the Dayton Art Institute before her children arrived. The kids were introduced early to art, theatre, dance and music, and their lives have been enriched. And she was always up for taking them to the Dayton Museum of Natural History, Aullwood Audubon Center, or birdwatching, which she and they loved. Patty was a longtime member of the Garden Club of Dayton and greatly enjoyed flower gardening. She was an avid tennis player into her 80s, until chronic pain forced her to quit.

Patty belonged to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Oakwood her entire life and loved the intimate Wednesday morning services, which she attended for many years. Her Christianity was a crucial part of her life and the basis of her commitment to social justice.

Patty and Jim created a long, happy marriage, and knew how fortunate they were to have a group of close Dayton friends, many of whom they knew for 40 or more years.

Patty was proud of her family’s role in Dayton history. Her father was the last president of family-owned Elder’s Department Store, and Patty found it hard to pass a messy store rack without straightening it (“I was born and raised in the retail trade”). Her mother’s father, John Lytle, led a popular John Philip Sousa-style brass band.

Patty experienced serious mobility issues and chronic pain for the last 10 years of her life, which limited her activities, particularly with her grandsons, who were the lights of her later life. But she kept her sense of humor and great kindness, and remained a current events junkie to the end.

She was predeceased by her parents, brother, John Marshall, and sister, Lynn Marshall. Patty is survived by her adoring husband of 65 years, James Mulligan; children, Sarah Mulligan, Patrick Mulligan and Maggie Mulligan Knox (Noel); beloved grandsons, J.D. Lanham and Liam and Ben Knox; brother, Tom; former daughter-in-law Elise Mulligan; and many nieces and nephews. The family thanks special caregiver Brenda P. for her kindness to our wonderful Patty.

A memorial service will be held at St. Paul’s on May 15 at 11 a.m., with a reception to follow at the church. In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials to the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance or Dayton Contemporary Dance Company.