Dvorak, Patricia A.

MENANDS-Patricia A. Dvorak, 80, passed away Sunday, August 6, 2017 at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland.

Pat is survived by her sisters, Kathleen Murphy (the late Matthew) and Mary Frances Scott (Angelo) and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Miroslav “Thomas” and Mary (Bird) Dvorak.

Pat was born in Menands, NY. She attended Albany City Schools and earned her B.A. and M.A. in music education at SUNY Potsdam’s Crane School of Music. Pat was an extremely dedicated teacher of choral and instrumental music for the South Colonie School District, retiring in 1993. She was a member of many choirs including the Capital Hill Choral Society, St. Paul’s Church in Troy, St. Andrew’s and St. Paul’s Churches in Albany and the Saratoga-Potsdam Choral Institute with the Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC.

During her retirement, Pat subscribed to the Metropolitan Opera and she traveled extensively. One of the adventures she was most proud of was her trip behind the iron curtain to research her father’s lineage in Czechoslovakia.As a young woman traveling alone, pre-cell phone and Internet, Pat successfully connected with long lost relatives.

Pat’s nieces and nephews and their families will never forget how she made every Christmas special through her cookies, handmade stockings and hundreds of ornaments over the years. Her camp at Cossayuna Lake was Pat’s little piece of heaven and she was very proud of helping her family build it.

Special thanks to Pat’s dear friends Betty Mathis, Judy and Ed Heffern and Karen Wilks.

Her funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Thursday, August 10, 2017 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 21 Hackett Blvd., Albany. Relatives and friends are invited and may also visit with Pat’s family at the Church on Thursday from 10 to 11 a.m., prior to the service. Burial will be in St. Agnes Cemetery in Menands,

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Pat’s name to The Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org/donate or The Crane School at www.potsdam.edu/academics/Crane.