Clare “Pat” Stevens Ingersoll
1925-2017
Clare Stevens “Pat” Ingersoll (92), a devoted Christian, wife, mother, business owner, scholar and community supporter, died on Saturday, Sept.23, 2017, from complications of pneumonia. She was surrounded by her family, a team of care givers and Hospice at the time.
Born in New York City on March 17, 1925, Clare was the first child of Byam Kirby and Clare Reynders Stevens. Because of her Saint Patrick’s Day birth, Clare was soon and forevermore dubbed as “Pat.” In her earliest years, Pat was raised in Cedarhurst, Long Island and attended the Lawrence School then Greenvale Schools. She chose St. Timothy’s in Catonsville for prep school and enrolled in Bryn Mawr College as a freshman in 1942. However, Pat would only attend Bryn Mawr for a year before falling in love with Daniel Winthrop Ingersoll and marrying him on June 19, 1943. Finishing college would have to wait for Pat as four sons were born.
In the decades of the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, Pat raised her four sons while co-operating both a farm and a marine business on the farm. The marine business was known as Silver Hill Shop and stayed open from 1953-1982. Pat did all the financial, billing and inventory work that that the business required. During that same time period, Pat ensured that her children were receiving good educations by supporting the local public schools and helping create the first public library in Kent County. She was a Kent County Public Library trustee from 1961-1977 and a Kent County PTA president and supporter from 1950-1967. Additionally, Pat had the distinction of performing as a Kent County judge of elections from 1946-2006. She never missed an election during those 60 years.
During all the years her boys were growing, the idea of returning to college never left Pat’s mind. In 1965, she began taking University of Maryland courses at the Army Nike Base in Tolchester. By 1967, enough of the children were out of the house and Pat continued her education at Washington College, earning a B.A. in 1971. She did not stop there, receiving her Master’s in Sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1974 and was A.B.D (all but dissertation) in sociology at the University of Pennsylvania in 1980.
Pat’s hobbies and interests included knitting, needle point (won a First at the Timonium Fair), Jeopardy (was a contestant), traveling, often with grandchildren (Ireland, France, the Soviet Union), languages (French, Latin, German, Greek). Before Google, Pat was the source for information and a fount of knowledge, aka “Mrs. Webster” and “CompuMom.”
In the past few decades Pat devoted her attention to serving her college, church and community. She served on the Board of Visitors & Governors for Washington College from 1987-2001 and on the Women’s League of Washington College. At St. Paul’s Church she was a lay reader, eucharistic minister and member of the choir, in which she continued to sing for as long as she could. In the local community, she supported the Mid-Shore Symphony and the National Music Foundation, sang in the Kent County Chorale and donated to almost any charity that asked for her help. She will be missed by her family and friends, including a group of her friends who met on Tuesdays for lunch over several decades.
Pat was predeceased by her husband, Daniel Winthrop, and sister, Evelena Stevens Kenworthy Oakes. She is survived by her brother, Byam Kirby Stevens Jr.; her four sons, Daniel W. Jr., (Kathleen), Robert H. (Gayle), William S. (Susan) and Jared W. (Elizabeth); her grandchildren, Kristen Stevens Ingersoll, Brian Carswell Ingersoll, Daniel Winthrop Ingersoll IV, Erica Lynn Ingersoll Arnold Semler, Abigail Leigh Ingersoll-Gilbertson, Nathanael Evan Ingersoll, Joseph Henry Mills, Katherine Mills, Clare Kelly Ingersoll and Lila Kipling Ingersoll; and her great-grandchildren, Grady West Ingersoll, Audrey Sophia Gilbertson, Kirk Dean Arnold, Lyndsay Arnold, Eleanor Carroll Ingersoll and Alice Clarke Ingersoll.
In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Washington College or St. Paul’s Kent.
There will be a memorial service at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 28 at St. Paul’s Kent, immediately followed by a reception at the Parish House.
Arrangements by Fellows, Helfenbein & Newnam Funeral Home, Chestertown.
www.fhnfuneralhome.com
Carol Schroeder says
Pat was our “matriarch” at St. Paul’s, Kent and helped many parishioners there begin their service to the parish. She was a wonderful mentor and friend to so many and her pew looks so empty. She ismissed by all of us.