Patricia Mary Kathleen Holland

Patricia Mary Kathleen Holland (Maas) died after a long, brave fight with dementia on September 17, 2024, at age 77. She was the devoted and loving wife of Richard James Holland for 55 years, and was sister and confidant to Marikay Concannon (Tom Concannon). A protective lioness mother to her children Richard Holland (Sarah Guernsey), Virginia Baughman and Elizabeth Loggins (Doc Loggins), she was also the proud grandmother to Max and Hank Holland; Xavier, Logan, Dylan, and Alexis Baughman; and Aaron and Zion Johnson and Dock and Deja Loggins. She was predeceased by her parents and three of her siblings.

As she entered adulthood, Pat contemplated a life committed to the Catholic Church, but after a few years realized her call to service was to use her talents to provide aid and respite to the sick while being active in the local civil rights movement. Eventually she landed the job she would embrace for her entire career as a nurse (and later nursing supervisor) at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center in Milwaukee for 42 years. She was a force of nature dedicated to helping and healing those in need, both at work and at home, and was regularly unconcerned about the traditional power structures that stood in her way. She was focused, quick-thinking, and compassionate, applying her knowledge with confidence in high-stress, life-or-death situations, eventually rising to be one of the leaders of the nursing staff at the hospital.
While working third shift full time and attending administrative meetings during the day, she felt the desire to challenge herself and obtained her MBA from Cardinal Stritch University; she did all of this while raising three children, making dinner, and ironing her husband’s work shirts, in addition to her goal to never miss her “holy hour” of TV program “Days of Our Lives.”

In her spare time, she enjoyed going on drives in the country with her husband while they hunted for treasures at antique stores, garage sales, and Goodwill outlets. She famously canned her own jams and jellies, salsa, and apple sauce, regularly making hundreds of jars to distribute during the holidays. If there were any time left over, she would play Chopin and Beethoven on piano. Almost in anticipation of the terrible toll dementia would take on her so tragically soon after retirement, she lived with an enthusiasm and humor that could fill several lives, all well lived. She regularly said that she could sleep standing up if you leaned her against a wall. It was true. Hopefully she can finally catch up on the rest she so regularly skipped in life so that she could improve the lives of others.

Her whole life the very Irish Pat would close her letters and notes with the signoff “Shalom, Pat.” Shalom is a Hebrew word that generally means “peace,” but not simply “peace” in the holding up of two fingers, in the sixties-counter-culture way: it can mean a peace between two entities or groups, two states, or between a person and God. Pat meant it to imply universal flourishing–the way things ought to be.
That was Patricia Holland at her core: she fought for the way things ought to be, often in clear, simple ways by healing the suffering of others, guiding her children, and supporting her husband. Her legacy should be for us to remember how she also fought in the way of Don Quixote, by jousting with the giants, thrown in the air over and over and always getting up, tilting once more. She was never one to back down from any challenge. She is no longer here to hand out a “shalom,” but for those of us lucky enough to have known and loved her, she left us with a gift: shalom written on our hearts, empowering us to fight for what is right.
Shalom, Pat.

Visitation, service and luncheon at Krause Funeral Home, 7001 W Brown Deer Road, Milwaukee, Wisconsin  53223 on Sunday, October 6, 2024, 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Funeral service 1:00pm, luncheon to follow. Private burial.

In lieu of flowers donations to Honor Flight honorflight.org a charity aiding and honoring the service of our noble veterans. Honorflight.com or to the charity of your choice.

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