Mary Patricia Navratil

We mourn the loss of Mary Patricia (Kelley) Navratil, who passed away peacefully at St. Monica’s Senior Living in Racine on August 18, 2017. We remember her graceful strength and abiding love of life.

Known as Maripat to friends and relatives, and Mom or Grandma/Granny to a fortunate few, she was born in Philadelphia March 25, 1927, the eldest child of Aloysius and Anna (Sheridan) Kelley. A 1949 graduate of Immaculata College, she served as a teacher in the Philadelphia public schools and spent summers traveling in Europe and North Africa. A vacation in Mexico turned into a two-year stint teaching English in Veracruz. On a study program at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, she met Racine native Frank Joseph Navratil. They wed on June 6, 1959 and lived in Des Plaines, IL until moving to Racine in 1974.

Maripat brought five children into the world and nurtured them into adulthood. While the children were in elementary school, she resumed her teaching career. After being widowed in 1979, she became a real estate agent, substitute teacher, volunteer, and babysitter. She also pursued her love of travel, around the U.S. and to many other countries. Through it all, she maintained her gracious, loving demeanor, sharp sense of humor, creative impulses, and deep sense of curiosity.

Her husband and four siblings preceded her in death. She is survived by children Thomas J. Navratil, John F. Navratil (Pilar), Paul W. Navratil, Cecilia A. Cordeiro (Eduardo), and Denis J. Navratil (Dimple), and by eight grandchildren, three sisters-in-law, a wealth of cousins, nieces, nephews and their families, and many dear friends.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Paul The Apostle Catholic Church, 6400 Spring Street, Mount Pleasant, WI at 11:00 am on Saturday, September 16. Interment will take place at Calvary Cemetery, followed by a luncheon. Relatives and friends may meet with the family on Saturday at the church from 10:00 am until time of Mass at 11:00 am. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the newly-established St. Monica’s Employee Benefit Fund, 3920 North Green Bay Road, Racine, WI 53404.