LANSDALE, PA – Ms. Patricia A. Gawarecki, born on July 4, 1942, in Rome, NY, passed peacefully on Monday Dec. 19, 2016, after a brief illness.
She was the daughter of Rome residents George Gawarecki and Margaret Yablonski Gawarecki, an elementary school teacher in the Boonville Public School District.
Patricia was educated in the Rome public school system, graduating from Rome Free Academy in 1960 near the top of her class.
While at RFA, she played basketball and was concert violinist in the school orchestra.
She attended Syracuse University, receiving a BA in chemistry during a time when women were a rarity in the field.
Afterwards, she attended Michigan State University, having been awarded a full fellowship and from where in 1966 she earned an M.S. in biochemistry.
Shortly thereafter, she moved to Lansdale, Pennsylvania, where she was employed in the pharmaceutical industry, initially at Rohm and Haas followed by 42 years at Merck & Co.
She retired in 2014.
Patricia is survived by her brothers, Daniel of Singapore and David of New Haven, Connecticut; as well as her sister, Pamela Koenig of Oriskany; sisters-in-law, Jenny and Martha; brother-in-law, William Koenig; nephews, Robert and William Koenig also of Oriskany and John Gawarecki-Maxwell of Brooklyn, NY; and niece, Mikayla Gawarecki of Singapore; as well as a great-niece, three great-nephews and cousins.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 23, at St. Peter’s Church, 150 E. Liberty St. in Rome.
A private viewing will be held for family members from noon to 1 p.m., prior to the service.
Interment will take place in Rome Cemetery.
Arrangements have been entrusted to Nunn and Harper Funeral Home, Inc., Rome.
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