Patricia A. Lapan, 86
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Patricia Ann Lapan, 86, of 118 Church St., Apt. D2, died Sunday, May 9, 2010, at Sweet Brook Care Centers.
Born in North Adams on June 2, 1923, daughter of Patrick A. and Kathryn Bridgman Lapan, she attended Williamstown schools and graduated from the former Williamstown High School in 1941. She also graduated from the then North Adams State Teachers College and received her master's degree in education from Boston University in 1960.
Miss Lapan's teaching career spanned 38 years, beginning in Rocky Hill, Conn., followed by six years of teaching in Adams and ending in Williamstown. She retired in 1983.
She was a lifelong communicant of St. Patrick's Church and a member of its former Ladies' Guild and the Right to Life Commission. She was also an active member of the Williamstown Lay Carmelite Community for many years. She was a life member of the National Education Association and the Education Association of Massachusetts.
Miss Lapan participated in several community activities. She was a volunteer of the Sweet Brook Nursing Home Good Bear Project, the Willowood Bingo Program and the American Cancer Society Road to Recovery Program. She also worked at the Women's Exchange for a long time.
She leaves two nieces, Kathryn Zoito of Pittsfield and Nancy Bird of Cheshire, and grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces and great-grandnephews.
She is predeceased by her sisters Kathryn Lapan and Vera L. Ostrander and nephews Michael Ostrander and John Ostrander.
FUNERAL NOTICE — A Liturgy of Christian Burial for Miss Lapan will take place Thursday, May 13, at 11 from St. Patrick's Church. Burial will follow in Eastlawn Cemetery.
Calling hours will be Wednesday, May 12, from 3 to 6 at Flynn & Dagnoli-Montagna Home for Funerals, West Chapels. Memorial donations can be made to St. Patrick's Church through the funeral home, 521 West Main St., North Adams, MA 01247.