Beloved Mother, wee darlin’ Daughter, favorite Aunt, kind and loving Friend, Matriarch of her Graham, Job, Balmer and chosen family, and respected Educator of 45 years.

Preceded into the stars by her loving parents Ernest Heartwell of Alliston, ON and Gertrude Maude of Belfast, Ireland, her Aunts May, Blanche, Pete, & Flo Houston and her Uncle Jack Houston (who served as a Minister in both World Wars) as well as cherished feline companions Midnight, Hector, Inky, Nero, and Bobby, Pat will be deeply missed by many: her colleagues from both the Peel Board of Education and Streetsville Musicorp’s JUSTUS; her Royal York Gardens, Lakeshore, and Meadowvale neighbours; her Brother Peter and Sister In-Law Carol; Nephews Andrew and David and their families; Cousins Leith, Norma, and Heather Graham; Cousins Marilyn, Wendy, & Tom Job and their families; Cousins Heather, David, Jim & Rick Balmer and their families; numerous former students; and best friends Adrianne Harmston, Norm Rippon, Sue Munro, Kay Wynne, Wendy Johnson, Joan Command, Pam Nugent, Trish Fedora, Doris Greening, Muriel Townshend, Mary Ann and Herb Barton, Eulah and Bryan Bent, Maureen and Ron Russell, The Currans, and Les Geoffroys, along with so many others. She shared an unbreakable bond with her devoted son Ryan.

A popular and admired grade school teacher at Settler’s Green in Mississauga, Pat was known for her music, art, french, and sports & rec skills. She taught over 1000 young students, and was known for her “magic” ability to cure hiccups. After her career in education ended, she filled her days as a chorister (Second Soprano) and event planner with Streetsville Musicorp’s JUSTUS, where her hard work planning the annual Valentine’s Tea lead to her being honored by Mayor Hazel McCallion. She also worked as an extra in movies, where she can be seen in films such as Mean Girls, Santa Who?, Detroit Rock City, and The Brady Bunch Goes to Washington.

Pat enjoyed an action-packed 79 years, often frequenting the theatre, baseball and hockey games, concerts, and the odd casino. In addition to travels to Europe (including Salzburg, London, Monte Carlo, Limoges, Mont Saint-Michel, Cote d’Azur, Versailles, Nice, Marseilles, Lyon, Bonn, Bavaria, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Delft, Marken, Rhineland, Mainz, Vienna, Strasburg, Geneva, and many more), Hawaii, The Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, Nevis, Montserrat, and a Caribbean cruise; American Cities and States such as Chicago, Boston and the Cape, Detroit, Salt Lake City, Daytona Beach, Myrtle Beach, Reno, San Simeon, Big Sur, Monterrey, Carmel, Seattle, Los Angeles, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Long Island, New Jersey, Michigan, and Wisconsin; and Canadian locales like Sault Ste. Marie, Vancouver, Victoria, Lake Louise, Ottawa, Brighton, Montreal, Quebec City, Moncton, North Bay, Kingston and the 1000 Islands, Halifax, Peggy’s Cove, Cape Breton, PEI, Niagara Falls, and so many other adventures, she lived in San Francisco in the 60s, Paris in the 70s, and enjoyed frequent trips to New York City in the 90s, 2000s, and 2010s (attending everything from the Feast of San Gennaro Festival to Broadway shows to Christmas dinner at the Plaza Hotel to a brief stay at St. Vincent's Hospital to Ground Zero a week after 9/11). Along the way, she enjoyed fabulous meals at some of the best restaurants and rubbed shoulders with athletes like Willie Mays, Jim Pappin, Eddie Shack, and Andy Bathgate, politicians from John Diefenbaker to Olivia Chow to France’s Louis Longequeue, and showfolk such as Dennis DeYoung of Styx, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Bob Crane, Ian & Sylvia Tyson, and Chita Rivera, who was kind enough to send a beautiful video message to Pat in her last days, recalling their years of memories and friendship.

She'll be well remembered for her wry and dry, perfect-timing sense of humour, singular and inspiring strength & independence, dedication to her loved ones, and drive to do the right and just thing in all situations. She maintained long friendships, was 100% loyal to the Toronto Blue Jays, and was proud of her Northern Irish roots. More than anything else, she treasured her close relationship with her son, and was proud of him and his theatre work.

Raised in The Kingsway on Canterbury Road, Pat’s days ended in The Kingsway as well: seen out and about at Kingsway Fish & Chips and Kingsway Theatre, ordering from Hong Kong Gardens, shopping at Humbertown, holidaying at the Old Mill, celebrating candle-lit Christmases at Kingsway-Lambton United Church, representing her building on behalf of the Royal York Gardens Tenants' Association, or watching the salmon run in the Humber River, she journeyed with grace and positivity through severe osteo-arthritis, two knee replacements, spinal stenosis, and finally metastasizing colon/gastric cancer. Her final years were assisted by an army of doctors, nurses, PSWs, and other medical and support professionals from SRT, Dorothy Ley Hospice and the Oncology department at St. Joseph’s Hospital (with special thanks to Dr. Zurawska and Nurse Susan Milne).

Whether you remember her as Mrs. Hinds, Miss Graham, Pat, Patty, Patty Lou, Patsy, or Patricia, she wanted to be remembered with a big Toronto Star obituary. She lived an exciting life on her own terms, and leaves a legacy of love.