Patricia Ann (Gregory) Smydra passed away on October 11, 2013 at age 92. She had been a resident at St. Anne's Mead Assisted Living and Nursing Center in Southfield, Michigan for the last three years, where she received loving care. Pat was visited often by her relatives and friends and frequently said she "lived the life of Riley" in her new home. She routinely received cards, letters and notes from her network of friends and family. Pat was comfortable to the end and passed peacefully at high noon as her favorite clock was chiming the hour.

Patricia G. Smydra was born in Duluth, MN, on August 20, 1921, the eldest child of Fredric N. Gregory and Nellie E. (Motherway) Gregory of Ewen, MI. She was later joined by a brother, David R. Gregory (deceased) and a sister, Kathleen E. (Gregory) Corley, now of Tucson, AZ. Her parents and grandparents were early settlers in Ontonagon County, Michigan. Pat spent the first ten years of her life in Ewen, MI, and then moved with her family to Ontonagon where she remained for nearly her entire life. She graduated as valedictorian of the class of 1939 from Ontonagon High School and then completed a one-year business course at Cleary College in Ypsilanti, Michigan. Later in life she also graduated with an associate's degree in business from Gogebic Community College. Following her graduation from Cleary, she returned to Ontonagon and worked variously at the Ontonagon Fibre Company, the Ontonagon County Road Commission and for 22 years she served as the secretary to the Superintendent of Schools for the Ontonagon Area School District, before retiring in 1986. She was also elected four times as Treasurer for Ontonagon Township.

On January 10, 1942, she married Stanley F. Smydra, also the descendant of early Ontonagon settlers. Until Stanley's passing in 1975, they operated Smydra Farm on the Rockland Road a