Patricia Bard
Sep 1st 1928 - May 21st 2010
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Tim and Joy Foster
June 21st 2010
We are so sorry to learn of Pat's passing. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her.
Tim and Joy Foster, former neighbors of the Bards at Crystal Lake.
Ann D. Oakes
June 7th 2010
Thank you for your wisdom and kindness. Pat, you provided a great role model for a newly elected Trustee to the Muskegon Community College Board. You took time to listen, really hear and then you spoke. You loved to sit with one leg folded underneath you. You wrote a poem about each Trustee that was on the Board at that time and I still have it. Periodically I take it out and reread it. I think your poem was on target. Pat, each time I ran for office I received a card from you. You encourage me so much. You are in my cherished memories.
Joyanne (Sullivan) Converse
June 7th 2010
To Pat - the letter I never got to write you...
I remember the day you called me in for an interview (1982 I think?), with you and Linda. Little did I know that phone call would shape and change my life in such a positive way. I grew to love our office of "Hot Ladies" as much as family, and like Dianne, I am too forever grateful. Not only for providing me with a careeer that has lasted 30 some yrs, but for the lessons learned along the way. I use to type Pat's letters for her and in doing so, gained an insight into this bright, strong woman, a fighter, always trying to make things better, to right the wrongs. Did I realize than how much she would ultimately influence me? Pat, you are one of my greatest mentors, a wonderful boss and great friend.
And when I got a little too "creative" with airline fares, you were there to tug on those reins, and yes, I learned to duck when the shoe came flying! As a single Mom of 4 boys, I sometimes felt overwhelmed, working full time, but family always came 1st. Thank you, Pat (& Linda) for always understanding, for being wonderful role models. Thank you Pat for that one night you took me out for dinner when you knew my boys went to there Dads, and you sensed I needed a friend, needed a shoulder. Fast forward 25yrs, and I find out I have 5 sisters, and you wrote me that beautiful letter, you were so happy for me. I can still see you sitting at my desk, that twinkle in your eye. I really miss you. Thank you Doug, Lisa & Andrea for sharing this vibrant woman, wife and mother with us. I will treasure many memories because of her, and I am a stronger, more
courageous person because of her.
With love always, your former "Hot lady"...Joyanne
Dianne Hoofman
June 6th 2010
Pat was my mentor and friend. I was one of the H.O.T. Ladies (those of us who worked for Pat and Linda at the House of Travel). Seriously, if they hadn't sold the place, I'd still be there. I watched her run circles around executives with her travel knowlege. I watched her shoe come flying out of her office, regularly...meaning it was time for me to go in and help her with her "stupid" computer. We were a family. What did we do after working hard all week? Oh, stay longer for happy hour of course. And you know what? I couldn't wait to get back there on Monday morning. She shaped my life and for that, I will be forever grateful.
Charles Hasper
May 26th 2010
What a joy to know Pat! You couldn't plan a trip through Pat without becoming great friends. Doug and family and Muskegon have lost a great lady.
Doug Bard
May 26th 2010
Making a Difference
Patricia Ann Bard made a difference decades before some wag coined the phrase that has become the masthead for every organization or individual whoever plead a cause. Long before there was a Peace Corp or Earth Day, Pat when she was graduated from Albion in 1950 went off to Hawaii (the Big Island) to teach kids on a sugar plantation in primitive Laupahoehoe.
Back to the mainland and Muskegon a few years later she went to work for Capital Airlines when the only commercial planes servicing Michigan were DC - 3’s; some of which were started on cold mornings by H. Tischler, the station manager throwing a rope around a prop on the port engine.
Into marriage in 1956 she continued to work for Capital followed by a term with Muskegon Travel Agency where she wrote a travel column for the Muskegon Chronicle. All this when society was still looking askance at married women who worked, or more often upon husbands suspected of being incapable of supporting them.
A couple of daughters, Lisa and Andrea were spaced in very late 1959 and early 60’s when she plunged tirelessly into volunteer work for Planned Parenthood and other worthy organizations here in Muskegon.
In the late sixties when her youngest sister, Linda returned to Muskegon after a divorce she and her sister organized and started from scratch the House of Travel Ltd, which grew rapidly and eventually employed 22 women including her widowed mother and middle sister.
She became a voice to be heard in the Western Michigan Organization of Travel Agents continually introducing new ideas and backing battles with airlines who were becoming cavalier in their attitudes toward agencies. During this time Baker College prevailed upon her to organize and teach a course in travel which she continued to improve as the airline business began to both suffer and prosper during deregulation.
Always in the fore front of advancing the cause of women she became one of the first three to be invited into the male bastion of the local Rotary Club. About this time she was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year, and appointed to the Board of Community College where she was later elected and served two more full terms. She also served on the Board of the Muskegon Bank into the late eighties.
Sensing the computer age and the ability of large customers to make in house travel plans on the Internet, she and her sister sold House of Travel to a Grand Rapids firm which disappeared soon after, when the airlines fell into chaos and suspended or eliminated all commissioned agents.
As was characteristic of a “Doer”, she flung herself into retirement in 1992. Caring and organizing two, actually three houses for her husband, daughters, and grandchildren, a condo in Muskegon, a cottage at Crystal Lake in Benzie County and a rented condo in Florida for six or eight weeks each winter. Here she entertained, and inspired, gave council to her peers and young women in particular. She also wrote copiously, much of this couched in clever limericks, and made certain her circle of friends and many acquaintances were invited to share bed, breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the shores of Crystal Lake in the summer and Gasparilla Island in the winter.
Pat loved life, and inspired others to enjoy it with her. She was an inspiration to everyone in her generation who was privileged to know her and touched the hearts and minds of many of those who are yet to blossom. We can’t think of a finer legacy.
Our family experienced first hand a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and best friend to all of us.
Lisa Bard
Andrea Bard
Peter Bard Crady
Samantha Bard Prue
Scott Bard Crady
Eric Bard Prue
Tom Crady
Walter Skip Prue
Doug Bard
Tim and Joy Foster
June 21st 2010
We are so sorry to learn of Pat's passing. She will be missed by all who knew and loved her.
Tim and Joy Foster, former neighbors of the Bards at Crystal Lake.
Ann D. Oakes
June 7th 2010
Thank you for your wisdom and kindness. Pat, you provided a great role model for a newly elected Trustee to the Muskegon Community College Board. You took time to listen, really hear and then you spoke. You loved to sit with one leg folded underneath you. You wrote a poem about each Trustee that was on the Board at that time and I still have it. Periodically I take it out and reread it. I think your poem was on target. Pat, each time I ran for office I received a card from you. You encourage me so much. You are in my cherished memories.
Joyanne (Sullivan) Converse
June 7th 2010
To Pat - the letter I never got to write you...
I remember the day you called me in for an interview (1982 I think?), with you and Linda. Little did I know that phone call would shape and change my life in such a positive way. I grew to love our office of "Hot Ladies" as much as family, and like Dianne, I am too forever grateful. Not only for providing me with a careeer that has lasted 30 some yrs, but for the lessons learned along the way. I use to type Pat's letters for her and in doing so, gained an insight into this bright, strong woman, a fighter, always trying to make things better, to right the wrongs. Did I realize than how much she would ultimately influence me? Pat, you are one of my greatest mentors, a wonderful boss and great friend.
And when I got a little too "creative" with airline fares, you were there to tug on those reins, and yes, I learned to duck when the shoe came flying! As a single Mom of 4 boys, I sometimes felt overwhelmed, working full time, but family always came 1st. Thank you, Pat (& Linda) for always understanding, for being wonderful role models. Thank you Pat for that one night you took me out for dinner when you knew my boys went to there Dads, and you sensed I needed a friend, needed a shoulder. Fast forward 25yrs, and I find out I have 5 sisters, and you wrote me that beautiful letter, you were so happy for me. I can still see you sitting at my desk, that twinkle in your eye. I really miss you. Thank you Doug, Lisa & Andrea for sharing this vibrant woman, wife and mother with us. I will treasure many memories because of her, and I am a stronger, more
courageous person because of her.
With love always, your former "Hot lady"...Joyanne
Dianne Hoofman
June 6th 2010
Pat was my mentor and friend. I was one of the H.O.T. Ladies (those of us who worked for Pat and Linda at the House of Travel). Seriously, if they hadn't sold the place, I'd still be there. I watched her run circles around executives with her travel knowlege. I watched her shoe come flying out of her office, regularly...meaning it was time for me to go in and help her with her "stupid" computer. We were a family. What did we do after working hard all week? Oh, stay longer for happy hour of course. And you know what? I couldn't wait to get back there on Monday morning. She shaped my life and for that, I will be forever grateful.
Charles Hasper
May 26th 2010
What a joy to know Pat! You couldn't plan a trip through Pat without becoming great friends. Doug and family and Muskegon have lost a great lady.
Doug Bard
May 26th 2010
Making a Difference
Patricia Ann Bard made a difference decades before some wag coined the phrase that has become the masthead for every organization or individual whoever plead a cause. Long before there was a Peace Corp or Earth Day, Pat when she was graduated from Albion in 1950 went off to Hawaii (the Big Island) to teach kids on a sugar plantation in primitive Laupahoehoe.
Back to the mainland and Muskegon a few years later she went to work for Capital Airlines when the only commercial planes servicing Michigan were DC - 3’s; some of which were started on cold mornings by H. Tischler, the station manager throwing a rope around a prop on the port engine.
Into marriage in 1956 she continued to work for Capital followed by a term with Muskegon Travel Agency where she wrote a travel column for the Muskegon Chronicle. All this when society was still looking askance at married women who worked, or more often upon husbands suspected of being incapable of supporting them.
A couple of daughters, Lisa and Andrea were spaced in very late 1959 and early 60’s when she plunged tirelessly into volunteer work for Planned Parenthood and other worthy organizations here in Muskegon.
In the late sixties when her youngest sister, Linda returned to Muskegon after a divorce she and her sister organized and started from scratch the House of Travel Ltd, which grew rapidly and eventually employed 22 women including her widowed mother and middle sister.
She became a voice to be heard in the Western Michigan Organization of Travel Agents continually introducing new ideas and backing battles with airlines who were becoming cavalier in their attitudes toward agencies. During this time Baker College prevailed upon her to organize and teach a course in travel which she continued to improve as the airline business began to both suffer and prosper during deregulation.
Always in the fore front of advancing the cause of women she became one of the first three to be invited into the male bastion of the local Rotary Club. About this time she was awarded Entrepreneur of the Year, and appointed to the Board of Community College where she was later elected and served two more full terms. She also served on the Board of the Muskegon Bank into the late eighties.
Sensing the computer age and the ability of large customers to make in house travel plans on the Internet, she and her sister sold House of Travel to a Grand Rapids firm which disappeared soon after, when the airlines fell into chaos and suspended or eliminated all commissioned agents.
As was characteristic of a “Doer”, she flung herself into retirement in 1992. Caring and organizing two, actually three houses for her husband, daughters, and grandchildren, a condo in Muskegon, a cottage at Crystal Lake in Benzie County and a rented condo in Florida for six or eight weeks each winter. Here she entertained, and inspired, gave council to her peers and young women in particular. She also wrote copiously, much of this couched in clever limericks, and made certain her circle of friends and many acquaintances were invited to share bed, breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the shores of Crystal Lake in the summer and Gasparilla Island in the winter.
Pat loved life, and inspired others to enjoy it with her. She was an inspiration to everyone in her generation who was privileged to know her and touched the hearts and minds of many of those who are yet to blossom. We can’t think of a finer legacy.
Our family experienced first hand a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and best friend to all of us.
Lisa Bard
Andrea Bard
Peter Bard Crady
Samantha Bard Prue
Scott Bard Crady
Eric Bard Prue
Tom Crady
Walter Skip Prue
Doug Bard
