Obituary of Patrick Whalen

Patrick James Whalen died on Aug. 17, 2018 in Cortland, NY. He was born on Mar. 29, 1951 in Cincinnati, OH, and was the son of Leroy W. Whalen and Mary T. (nee Hatton) Whalen. Very much like his father, Pat was a pragmatist, yet he lived his life as a free spirit and viewed challenges with an open and accepting optimism. He loved music and composed several ballades, always strumming along on his guitar. He worked in a variety of professions, adapting his pursuits to the needs of the time. For a while, he was a creditable freelance stone mason, erecting chimneys and constructing stone walls, but he also worked in a retail joke shop, a nursing home, the SPCA, and once, picked blueberries on a farm in Maine. (Brutally hard work, he noted.) Pat was also a diabetic, and the disease took its toll on his body but not his outlook on life. For many years, Pat struggled with substance abuse. He overcame his addictions and spent the latter part of his life helping others to stay sober. In his participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous he discovered an extended family of individuals who understood and supported him and whom he loved as dearly as his own siblings, nieces, and nephews. Pat is survived by his sisters: Eileen Whalen and Maureen Whalen; his brothers: Timothy (Kathleen) Whalen and Michael (Catherine) Whalen; and his nieces and nephews: Jesse (Erin) Margolius, Julia (Ceasar) Ahumada, Siobhan (Thomas) Lowell, Verity (Hendrik) Whalen, Marcus Whalen (Jill Costigan, fiancée), Alan Low, Jeremy Low, Liam Geiger, and Emma Geiger. Pat was predeceased by his parents and his sister, Mary K. Dolgin. Calling hours will be from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018 at Wright-Beard Funeral Home, 9 Lincoln Ave., Cortland. A funeral service will be held at 2 p.m. at the Funeral Home. Interment will follow immediately at Saint Mary's Cemetery, 4101 West Road, Cortland. To offer online condolences, please visit www.wright-beard.com