Obituary for Patricia C. Buckley (Cronin)
Patricia Ann Cronin was born September 30, 1934 at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Elizabeth, NJ to Francis Joseph Cronin and Catherine McCarthy Cronin. She grew up in a house that their grandchildren would attest was magical to play in as a kid. While her father was serving in Persia during World War II, Pat attended Mt. St. Mary Academy in Watchung and then moved on to Georgetown University where she earned a BS in Nursing. While working as a nurse at Georgetown Hospital, Pat met and fell in love with a patient named Thomas Buckley. They married on April 26, 1958, at Immaculate Conception Church in Elizabeth.
Pat and Tom lived in northern Virginia in the early years of their marriage, and had two sons (Brian Thomas and Michael Francis) and a daughter (Catherine Eileen). They returned to NJ in 1970, moving to Elizabeth and rounding out the family with a second daughter (Ellen Patricia), born in the same hospital as her mother.
Pat returned to her nursing vocation as a case manager at Community Nursing Service in East Orange; she was also PTA president at Immaculate Conception School in Elizabeth, organizing a yearly carnival and many parent dinners and raffles in the Parish Hall.
In 1980, the family moved to Sea Girt, and Pat started working for the Monmouth County Office of Social Services (MCOSS), which later became the Visiting Nurses' Association of Central NJ (VNACJ). At VNA, Pat administered a program to fund home health care for AIDS patients through the Ryan White AIDS Foundation. She later spearheaded a home health care program for patients with traumatic brain injuries. When she retired from VNA in 2007, it probably took 3 or 4 people to replace her.
In her retirement, Pat did not slow down, rediscovering her passion for competitive bridge playing and becoming a case manager of sorts again as “Parish Nurse” for St. Mark’s in Sea Girt, where she was a parishioner for almost 40 years. She visited homebound parishioners bearing groceries and prepared to take vitals, and made sure everyone in the parish got a flu shot.
A career woman AND a domestic wizard way back in the 70s, Pat honed an ability to take a complicated recipe and distill it to its essential elements, creating a simplified version in 25 minutes or less. Also renowned for her back scratches and her gravy, her Sunday roasts and her ability to sink a quarter in the Parkway toll basket while never taking her foot off the gas, her collection of red lipsticks and the way she could answer your question without pausing her scan of the Asbury Park Press, her tolerance of sandy feet in her car, her radar for the best deals in the weekly circulars, her gift for manifesting a parking space in the front row every time, and her generous use of butter in everything, her love of football Sundays and picking the winners in the weekly football pool.
A born leader, Pat was most at home when she was in charge of something, whether it was a Fairway Mews bridge tournament or a home health care initiative. Her biggest labor of love was always nursing those she loved in their final days: her aunt, her parents-in-law, her mother, her brother, her husband. A fierce advocate for her patients, she did not rest until everyone else was taken care of.
She did not hide her feelings; you knew where you stood with Pat. She inspired yearly competition among her kids to find the Christmas present that would produce the biggest smile, though she only ever admitted to wanting one gift: good grades. Her single demand was your best effort at everything. Whether we were moving towards it or away, she was the star that we guided so many of our voyages by.
Pat now joins her parents and parents-in-law, her husband Tom, her brother Francis J. Cronin Jr., and brother-in-law Richard Wenzler, for what is sure to be a joyful cocktail party reunion in heaven.
She leaves behind her beloved sister Maureen Wenzler of Sea Girt, treasured sister-in-law Maureen Cronin of Red Bank, and her children: Drs. Brian and Barbara Buckley of Sea Girt; Cathy Buckley and Peter Gruenberger of Boulder CO; (real) Dr. & Mrs. Michael and Cristin Buckley of Raleigh NC; and Ellen Buckley and Bill Custer of Ellicott City, MD. She will be forever remembered as Aunt Pat to her nieces and nephews, and Gran to her grandchildren Eric Gruenberger, Andrew (Cindy) Gruenberger, Meghan Madden, Erin Buckley, Kyle Buckley, Graham Harrell, Tyler Buckley, Julia Harrell, and Evan Buckley, and her great-granddaughter Dahlia Gruenberger.
She leaves behind her beloved Sea Girt beach and miles and miles of walking its boardwalk, a decades long collection of season badges, a wad of tissues and cough drops for Dad in every pocket, and table scraps for all of our dogs.
If you knew Mom, we ask one thing— when you think of her, please remember the Pat of the 82 years that came before Alzheimers dimmed her shine. The woman with the shrewd opening bid; the one preparing potato salad for twice as many people as she is expecting.
Eternal rest grant her, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest, finally, in peace.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you commemorate Pat’s life with a donation to the Alzheimers Foundation of America (https://alzfdn.org/support-us/donate/) or the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group Hospice Care (https://vnahg.org/support-hospice/).
Pat and Tom lived in northern Virginia in the early years of their marriage, and had two sons (Brian Thomas and Michael Francis) and a daughter (Catherine Eileen). They returned to NJ in 1970, moving to Elizabeth and rounding out the family with a second daughter (Ellen Patricia), born in the same hospital as her mother.
Pat returned to her nursing vocation as a case manager at Community Nursing Service in East Orange; she was also PTA president at Immaculate Conception School in Elizabeth, organizing a yearly carnival and many parent dinners and raffles in the Parish Hall.
In 1980, the family moved to Sea Girt, and Pat started working for the Monmouth County Office of Social Services (MCOSS), which later became the Visiting Nurses' Association of Central NJ (VNACJ). At VNA, Pat administered a program to fund home health care for AIDS patients through the Ryan White AIDS Foundation. She later spearheaded a home health care program for patients with traumatic brain injuries. When she retired from VNA in 2007, it probably took 3 or 4 people to replace her.
In her retirement, Pat did not slow down, rediscovering her passion for competitive bridge playing and becoming a case manager of sorts again as “Parish Nurse” for St. Mark’s in Sea Girt, where she was a parishioner for almost 40 years. She visited homebound parishioners bearing groceries and prepared to take vitals, and made sure everyone in the parish got a flu shot.
A career woman AND a domestic wizard way back in the 70s, Pat honed an ability to take a complicated recipe and distill it to its essential elements, creating a simplified version in 25 minutes or less. Also renowned for her back scratches and her gravy, her Sunday roasts and her ability to sink a quarter in the Parkway toll basket while never taking her foot off the gas, her collection of red lipsticks and the way she could answer your question without pausing her scan of the Asbury Park Press, her tolerance of sandy feet in her car, her radar for the best deals in the weekly circulars, her gift for manifesting a parking space in the front row every time, and her generous use of butter in everything, her love of football Sundays and picking the winners in the weekly football pool.
A born leader, Pat was most at home when she was in charge of something, whether it was a Fairway Mews bridge tournament or a home health care initiative. Her biggest labor of love was always nursing those she loved in their final days: her aunt, her parents-in-law, her mother, her brother, her husband. A fierce advocate for her patients, she did not rest until everyone else was taken care of.
She did not hide her feelings; you knew where you stood with Pat. She inspired yearly competition among her kids to find the Christmas present that would produce the biggest smile, though she only ever admitted to wanting one gift: good grades. Her single demand was your best effort at everything. Whether we were moving towards it or away, she was the star that we guided so many of our voyages by.
Pat now joins her parents and parents-in-law, her husband Tom, her brother Francis J. Cronin Jr., and brother-in-law Richard Wenzler, for what is sure to be a joyful cocktail party reunion in heaven.
She leaves behind her beloved sister Maureen Wenzler of Sea Girt, treasured sister-in-law Maureen Cronin of Red Bank, and her children: Drs. Brian and Barbara Buckley of Sea Girt; Cathy Buckley and Peter Gruenberger of Boulder CO; (real) Dr. & Mrs. Michael and Cristin Buckley of Raleigh NC; and Ellen Buckley and Bill Custer of Ellicott City, MD. She will be forever remembered as Aunt Pat to her nieces and nephews, and Gran to her grandchildren Eric Gruenberger, Andrew (Cindy) Gruenberger, Meghan Madden, Erin Buckley, Kyle Buckley, Graham Harrell, Tyler Buckley, Julia Harrell, and Evan Buckley, and her great-granddaughter Dahlia Gruenberger.
She leaves behind her beloved Sea Girt beach and miles and miles of walking its boardwalk, a decades long collection of season badges, a wad of tissues and cough drops for Dad in every pocket, and table scraps for all of our dogs.
If you knew Mom, we ask one thing— when you think of her, please remember the Pat of the 82 years that came before Alzheimers dimmed her shine. The woman with the shrewd opening bid; the one preparing potato salad for twice as many people as she is expecting.
Eternal rest grant her, oh Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May she rest, finally, in peace.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that you commemorate Pat’s life with a donation to the Alzheimers Foundation of America (https://alzfdn.org/support-us/donate/) or the Visiting Nurse Association Health Group Hospice Care (https://vnahg.org/support-hospice/).