Patricia Frances Martin

Patricia Frances Clara Kania Martin, age 82, died peacefully at home on Sunday, January 12, 2025, with her loving family by her side.

Patricia was born Patricia Frances Kania at South Shore Hospital in Chicago on May 28, 1942, the second child of Frank Peter Kania and Helen Albina Kania (née Sczaczkowski). Patricia was baptized at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on 83rd Street in Chicago’s South Side, where she was confirmed “Clara.”

Patricia graduated from St. Michael Catholic grammar school in 1956 and followed her older sister to Chicago’s South Shore High School where Patricia met her future husband who also shared a Latin class with her. After graduating high school she worked at Illinois Bell Telephone Company, later AT&T, where she made friends, some that lasted a lifetime.

In October 1965, she married her high school classmate and sweetheart, Richard D. Martin at St. Michael. Their union bore two children: the first, Cynthia Marie Tarlow (née Martin) in 1966; the second, Timothy Andrew Martin, in 1969. Patricia moved with her family to Crystal Lake in 1968 where they built their new home and later took great joy in being deeply involved with her growing family, grandchildren and friends within the St. Thomas and Crystal Lake communities.

Patricia was deeply involved with her faith and Church. At St. Thomas she served in the lay ministry for the Knights of the Altar; she scheduled and typed the monthly calendars for the parish altar boys and for many years laundered & ironed the cassocks & surplices worn by the St. Thomas boys during masses. She was a dedicate service volunteer, baker and organizer for the St. Thomas Keenagers community for senior citizen for many years.

Patricia achieved early fame as a local Yo-Yo champion in her Chicago neighborhood. She later attended interior design classes at the Art Institute of Chicago as well as McHenry County College to earn a certificate in floral design: the latter enabled her to earn a welcome, if sometimes unreliable salary supporting her children’s education.

Patricia was blessed with modesty and integrity, a keen wit and an endless capacity for compassion; with these tools she confidently gave voice to issues of concern to her. She was a generous and consummate source of Polish Paczki, fruit pies and other delights from her kitchen for family and friends. She loved to spend time in her garden and to provide food, shelter and treats for family pets and birds that would stop for a visit.

Her love of her faith, family and friends was the bedrock of her life that supported a great passion for travel. Early adventures began with bicycle rides from Essex Avenue to meet with friends at Chicago’s beaches. She later traveled to Spain with her mother in a group from the St. Thomas Church community. She traveled to less distant shores with her family: from Illinois to Lake Michigan and the other Great Lakes and as far West as the foot of Pike’s Peak. She traveled to the beaches of Florida, to Niagara Falls, and the lesser falls of Watkins Glen and Cumberland Falls, the sites of the Southeast, the State of Maine and the accidental trip to Michigan. She traveled throughout the heart of the United States and West to Colorado.

Surviving Patricia are her two sisters: younger sister Janet Botts and children Rebecca (Mike) and son Cooper, and Benjamin; older sister Constance Slomka and children Kathi, Scott (Kathy) and children Matthew and Nicholas) and Kimberly (Stephen). Also surviving are Patricia’s husband, Richard; sister-in-law, Carol Martin; Patricia’s daughter, Cynthia Marie Tarlow (Ross) and children Jacob, Ethan and Marissa; Patricia’s son, Timothy Andrew Martin (Corinna) and children Connor and Colin.

Preceded in death are Patricia’s parents: Frank and Helen, grandparents, uncle Reverend Father Patrick Szemla, O.F.M., Uncle Carl Smigiel and a number of aunts, uncles and cousins.

A visitation for Patricia will be held from 8:30am until the time of prayers at 10am on Saturday January 25, 2025, at Davenport Family Funeral Home and Crematory, 419 E. Terra Cotta Ave. (Rte. 176), Crystal Lake, IL 60014 followed by a 10:30am Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church, 451 W Terra Cotta Ave, Crystal Lake, IL. Burial at Crystal Lake Memorial Park in Crystal Lake, IL.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Patricia’s name may be made to Boys Town.