Patricia M. McColgan, public school educator with a sprawling family, dies
Jun. 2—Patricia M. McColgan, a retired public school educator who embraced her Irish heritage and sprawling family, died of pneumonia May 7 at Compass, a hospice in Centreville. The Chester resident was 92.
"She was just a terrific woman and the word I'd use to describe her was worldly. She had a big, big personality," said a nephew, Gerry J. Jackson, former Baltimore Sun sports editor. "She was caring, loving and wherever she went, she brought joy. She was effervescent and just phenomenal."
Patricia Mary Jackson, daughter of James Jackson, a prizefighter and boxing coach at Princeton University, and Mary Hutton Jackson, a Princeton University secretary, was born and raised in Princeton, New Jersey.
After graduating from Princeton High School, she earned a bachelor's degree in 1956 in early childhood education from what is now Towson University.
While at Towson, she met and fell in love with a fellow student, John A. McColgan, and married in 1956.
A Westinghouse Electric Corp. international marketing executive, Mr. McColgan's work took the couple to Ireland, Micronesia and Iran.
They later settled in Catonsville, Marriottsville and Columbia, where they raised their three children.
Mrs. McColgan taught at Halethorpe Elementary School from 1957 to 1958, and later was on the faculty of several Howard County public schools, including Talbott Springs Elementary School, where she taught for a decade until retiring in 1979.
"She could absolutely handle a class of boisterous and giddy students and was always in control," said her nephew, who is webmaster for The Catholic Review. "Here was this thin, petite, beautiful lady, but she didn't take any nonsense."
She loved recalling and telling stories about her idyllic youth growing up in Princeton, her nephew said.
Mrs. McColgan relished entertaining her extended family at Thanksgiving and at poolside events at her Centennial Lane home.
She was also known for her baked goods, her love of her Irish heritage and quick wit.
"She was a baker extraordinaire and we miss her cookies," said her daughter, Amy Page, of Chester. "We had Christmas cookies from Thanksgiving through February."
A woman of deep faith, she was also "devoted to praying the rosary," Mr. Jackson said.
It was said that Mrs. McColgan was notorious for collecting strays of any kind — cats or people — with anyone and everyone welcomed in her home.
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"Her laugh would take over a room," her nephew said. "If you wanted an aunt, she was the one you wanted to have."
"All nine of the Jackson kids loved Aunt Pat," Ms. Page said.
"She was very warm and outgoing and never met a stranger. She was feisty but a lovely person who liked making new friends and playing bridge," her daughter said.
An avid reader, she enjoyed dining out and fine clothes, but didn't have a "pretentious bone in her body," Ms. Page said.
Mrs. McColgan moved to Chester on Kent Island two years ago, family members said.
She was a former communicant of the Trinity Sunday Community in Ilchester.
Her husband died in 2020.
A Mass of Christian burial was offered May 15 at St. Christopher's Roman Catholic Church in Chester.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a son, Timothy McColgan, of Apopka, Florida; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Another daughter, Mary Frances Howard, died in 2018.
