This past  Saturday our friend and publicist Pat Christmas  lost a battle with cancer we never knew she was waging. My first reaction was regret: I hadn’t had a real talk with her in a long time, and I wished I’d had the chance to thank her again for all her support, advice, and generosity.  I’ll always regret not having had that last conversation.  Pat had an upbeat personality and a love of life.  The last time we saw her was at our industry evening in May 2009.  We never knew anything was wrong.  Pat believed in what we were trying to do and was always excited by the student work.  Her contacts in the world of publications trusted her- she was a publicist who worked for causes and companies she believed in, many of them non-profit.  It was her enthusiasm about us that brought a reporter from the Toronto Star to Max the Mutt. We ended up with a feature story about us and half a page of photos of student work.

We will all miss her, and in her memory we will establish a scholarship, the Patricia Christmas Memorial Scholarship. The first award will be announced this spring. We are in the process of working out the details.

Pat, it’s hard to think that we will really not see you again. Thank you for all you gave us.

We were told that she spent her last week with her husband and best friend watching her favorite comedienne, Lucille Ball, in old episodes of I Love Lucy. She left this world with the same positive spirit that energized her life. She will be missed.