Patricia B. DeHaan, 84, entered into eternal sleep on November 11, 2012.
A champion swimmer, she compared dying to racing that last 50 yards and reaching for the finish line; she lived every second of her life to its fullest. Her journey began on June 22, 1928 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn as the only child of Marie and Raymond Hall. At age 2 she won a Beautiful Baby contest and was enrolled in dancing school by age 3. She sang on the radio and danced in minor stage productions.
At age 6, she was given swimming lessons at the famous Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights, NY. A natural backstroker, she became a member of the ST. GEORGE DRAGONS at age 8. She later went on to win multiple championships including a JUNIOR NATIONAL BACKSTROKE title. Turning professional at age 16, she joined the cast of Elliot Murphy’s water ballet “AQUASHOW” at the old World’s Fair grounds in Flushing, Queens. She later swam with Buster Crabbe (“Flash Gordon”) and joined his traveling swim and diving show. Her accomplishments as a star swimmer launched her into the world of professional modeling in New York and Chicago.
The sometimes spurious world of modeling promoted her exodus from the spotlights, and sparked her desire to enter the Columbia University School of Nursing in NYC. While there, she enjoyed an incredible social life, arranging school dances, putting on water ballet shows for the nurses and medical students, and becoming the official cartoonist for the school newspaper. She continued to take occasional modeling jobs with Glamour Magazine, who documented her graduation and published her story in the August 1951 issue.
Following graduation, Pat went to work in the Emergency Room at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. It was there that she met the “love of her life”, a 4th year medical student, Clayton R. DeHaan. They were to be married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on June 6, 1953. He would later become a well-known plastic & reconstructive surgeon and the Director of Plastic Surgery at St. Luke’s Hospital. While there he ran the Internship training program and the Cleft Palate Clinic along with teaching as an adjunct professor at Colombia Presbyterian Hospital.
After her children were born, she enrolled in the WORKSHOP 59 acting company and became a student at the Art Students League of NYC. With her art career, she exhibited throughout the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Guatemala, and Paris.
Pat also became strongly focused on medical politics, supporting physician platforms for the reform and betterment of healthcare. She was active in the Westchester Alliance, President of the Orange County Alliance, then President of the State of New York Alliance to the Medical Society. She sat on their Legislative Committee and Executive Council. Her political activities took her from Albany to Washington, DC, meeting and working with some of the nation’s top leaders. In 1999, she was awarded the prestigious national Belle Chenault Medal by the American Medical Association for her political activism. She went on to become a member of the Foundation Board of Trustees of the Orange Regional Medical Center in Middletown, NY. She also sat on the Board of the Directors of the now Sugar Loaf Performing Arts Center in the hamlet of Sugar Loaf, NY.
As she winded down her philanthropic activities, Pat began to paint again in her new home at Glen Arden Independent Living in Goshen, NY. She had her final one-woman show at the Seligmann Galleries in Sugar Loaf, NY in July, 2011.
Pat was predeceased by her soul mate, Clayton R. DeHaan, MD in 2003. She leaves her children to mourn her passing and who remember her with love and kindness: Lise DeHaan Golub, Rn/Doula (h.Stephen Golub MD); Richard DeHaan, Custom Carpenter (w. Amanda Marino DeHaan); Dorian DeHaan Rossi, Interior Designer/ Architect (dp.John Condatore); Christopher DeHaan, Architect (w. Shelly DeMarmels DeHaan Diabetes Manager of the Dunkelman Diabetes Treatment Center- ORMC)
She also leaves her grandchildren…she loved them all. LT. Fallon Marie Rossi USN. Operating with the Caribbean Naval Force in Cartagena, Columbia, SA; Ryan Michael Rossi, Designer of internal mechanisms for the USN, KAPL Labs, Albany; Matthew Golub, Student at VCU, Virginia; Rachel Golub, Proprietor- CrazyForCookies.biz; Max Golub, student at SUNY LI; Clayton R. DeHaan II, financial analyst at Merrill Lynch, NYC.; Connor DeHaan, Student at SUNY Oswego, NY; Bridget DeHaan, Junior at Warwick Valley HS; Kieran DeHaan, student at St. Stephen the Martyr Elementary School, Warwick. Pre-deceased by her grandson Andrew Sydney Golub in 2001 at age 14.
Visitation will be on Friday, November 16th, from 2-4 & 7-9 pm at Lazear-Smith & Vander Plaat Memorial Home, 17 Oakland Ave, Warwick. Funeral Mass will be at 10am on Saturday at St. Stephens RC Church, followed by interment in Warwick Cemetery.
Memorial Contributions in lieu of flowers may be considered in Clay and Pat’s name to the Orange Regional Medical Center Foundation, 707 East Main St., Middletown, NY, 10940… payable to “ORMC Foundation”. Or the William Randolph Hearst Burn Center at NY Presbyterian Medical Center, 525 E. 68th St, Box 137, NY, NY 10065 att: Dr. Roger Yurt….payable to “Burn Center”. Please include “in memory of Patricia B. DeHaan” in the memo section of any donations.