Patricia Ann Carty

Patricia Ann (Coyne) Carty, 81, of Crystal Lake, Illinois, passed away on Tuesday, June 13th 2023.

Born on June 6th, 1942 in Oak Park, Illinois to Julia C. Fitzgerald and John Coyne, Patti grew up in Gilman, IL with her adoptive parents Edwin and Miriam (Coyne) Kuipers and her siblings.

Patti graduated with honors from Gilman Community high school in Gilman, Illinois in 1960. She briefly attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign before beginning her working career. She was smart, organized, and took charge, and yet was known for her kindness and respect for her colleagues and clients. Over her 50 years in the workforce, she worked as a hairdresser, moved to Chicago and was a hand model for Macy’s and an office assistant for Calvert Distillers, and was a secretary to the chairman of a company that made weapons-grade ball bearings in Maryland.

She met Thomas A. Carty while working for Calvert, as both were working on the same floor of an office building on East Wacker Drive in Chicago. Tom knew instantly he wanted to be her husband. Somehow, she agreed and they were married on August 19, 1967 in Chicago. Patti was always the center of Tom’s life and their family was the center of hers. They had three boys to make up “the five of us”: Tommy, Bobby, and Danny. In her words, they never failed to keep life interesting and were a lot of work but were worth every bit of it.

Patti’s faith was very important to her and she spent most of her career as a General Manager for the Resurrection Catholic Retreat Center in Woodstock, Illinois. She moved to a Director when it later became Loyola University’s Retreat and Ecology Campus, until her retirement in 2019. Her 30-year commitment to the Congregation of the Resurrection USA Province and their mission was recognized with the Vision of Hope Award in 2013.

Patti will be remembered for many things: Among them her kind heart, her love of nature and ability to nurture most any plant back to life, her back rubs and scratches, her holiday table settings, her sage advice, her style and red manicured fingernails, her beautiful singing voice, her hugs, and her desire to help others. Whether in her personal or professional life, she focused on making anyone in her presence - particularly children of any age - feel loved, appreciated, and seen. Patti was an amazing mother and grandmother/Mema, and she welcomed many others into her heart and her home (literally). She lived by the motto and taught her sons that your friends are the family you choose, and those that had that place in her heart were very important to her.

Patti was preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband of 55 years, Tom; Her three boys: Thomas E. (Susan) Carty, Robert A. Carty, and Daniel R. (Cassandra) Carty; Her grandchildren: Aurora Carty, Fiona Carty, Colton Carty, and Stiles Carty; Her siblings: Mary Kay (Kuipers) Coplea, James Kuipers, and Stephen Kuipers; and her in-laws: Robert P. Carty and Maureen (Frank) Woolley.

In her memory, find a place where you can take a moment to step outside, sit in peace for a moment, wonder at nature, and see the stars. She wanted that for everyone.

A visitation will be held Friday, July 28th from 11:00am to 2:30pm at Davenport Family Funeral Home in Crystal Lake, IL, with a mass to follow at 3:00pm at Resurrection Catholic Church in Woodstock, IL.  Burial in Gilman, IL will take place at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, a contribution can be made to Resurrection Catholic Church Center via mail 2918 South Country Club Road, Woodstock Illinois 60098 or to Loyola University’s Retreat and Conference Center online at www.loyola.org/donate or via mail at 820 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611.