Visitation
Obituary of Patricia Christo
“Pat” met Steve Christo in a duckpin bowling league. He was immediately enamored with her beauty, most notably her stunning auburn hair. They married in 1960 and settled in Monroe in 1966, raising their family and remaining in that same home for 55 years. Pat made each Christmas in that home special, and when her children were grown, they all still gathered there together. In 2021 they moved to assisted living, most recently at SeaCrest in West Haven, where staff devotedly cared for them both.
Before retiring Pat worked for Dictaphone in an accounting role and prior to that, Read’s, where she held jobs of increased responsibility in the credit department.
Pat lived for her children and grandchildren. She looked forward to “pizza night” with her son Robert every week and traveling to visit Diane and Sharon and their families. Pat was a constant support during the difficult pregnancy and birth of her first grandchild, Kelsey, calling her birth one of the happiest moments of her life. She spent months researching adoption agencies for Diane and she is credited with the successful adoption of Blake and Shane. Pat had the honor of accompanying Sharon to Russia to meet Val during the adoption process, an adventure Pat cherished.
Proud Irish, Pat loved the written word and the “King’s English” as she liked to call it. A voracious reader, Pat had books on every topic imaginable – often related to anything that her children or grandchildren were into or that could help them in school or life in general. Her extensive collection was donated to the AAUW Somerset Hills where proceeds from the sale were applied to scholarships and advocacy funds.
Ahead of her time in many ways, Pat was organic gardening and composting in the 1970’s before it became popular and was working a full-time job when most women her age were homemakers. She was known to jump into hobbies and activities with great enthusiasm and once she mastered them – whether it was meditation, yoga, calligraphy, decoupage, origami or quilt making, she moved on to something new. She was a master seamstress, sewing clothes for herself and creating Halloween costumes for her grandkids later in life.
Pat was predeceased by her husband of 63 years, Steven, siblings, Eugene, Kathleen, Charles and James Lavin. She is survived by her children Diane McIntire, and her husband John, of Basking Ridge, NJ; Robert of Monroe and his loving partner Mary Cebik; Sharon MacEachern of Vernon, VT, and her husband, Scott. She also leaves her adored grandchildren, Kelsey MacEachern Canty, and her husband Kevin, of Gainesville, VA; Valentina MacEachern of East Greenbush, NY; Shane McIntire of Basking Ridge, NJ and Blake McIntire and his wife Paulina, of Hillsborough, NJ as well as her sisters-in-law, Agnes, Dorothy and Pauline Lavin and her brother-in-law John Christo and his wife Pat. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews.
Family and friends may greet the family on Saturday, April 1, 2023 from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm at Abriola Parkview Funeral Home, 419 White Plains Rd., Trumbull. Interment will be held privately.
In lieu of flowers, since Pat was a fierce protector of animals, donations in her name to ASPCA at www.aspca.org will be appreciated.