Pattifogalife

Patti, Patricia Anne, was born in Tamworth on September 14th, 1958, the 4th child and only girl of Barry and Marie McLean. Barry was one of 6 sons, brought up by his mother who would play poker with them, and drink beer and smoke with them as well. Barry’s dad and only sister died early, when Barry was young, and  I believe Patti was named after her dad’s sister.  I don’t know where Barry came in the family. He fought in New Guinea during WW2 and he liked a beer and a smoke, and was bald on top but for most of the time I knew him, wore a toupee. He and I had a reasonable relationship for the man who married his only daughter. Both Marie and Barry grew up in northern NSW…Lismore, Byron Bay etc.

Marie was the 2^nd youngest of 6 girls, her father and only brother also having died young. The family of Barry and Marie were 3 boys, close together: Jim, Tony and Rod; a 5-year gap then 3 others close together: Patti, David and Mark. Rarely called her mother and father, “mum and dad”, but referred to them as Barry and Marie, and Patti wanted her grandchildren to call her by her first name, not grandma  Patti was a diligent student, and was one of the smartest in her class at school. She had a great relationship with her father and he had the pleasure of watching her win a regional speaking competition at the age of 13.  Before she died, she was going to use these skills in the stand up comedy circuit here in NY. She even had a script prepared, and quite good it is as well. 

Patti demonstrated her individuality and quirkiness, and earned the sobriquet “Miss Mischief”, the theme of this post,  at an early age as evidence by the following anecdotes:

a) She brought a little boy with her from primary school and asked her mother if she could keep him;

b) She arranged her 8^th birthday party w/out telling her mum, so one Saturday afternoon several little girls were dropped off at their place and Patti’s mum had to quickly buy food;

c) While traveling with her family , Patti was standing between the front seats (pre mandatory seat belts), where her mother (not driving) was peeling prawns (shrimp) and passing them to Barry. However, they never made it as Patti would eat every one. When both her parents discovered what was going on, Patti’s response was “More!”

Patti was dropped off at boarding school in Bathurst in Feb 1975 (“St Mary’s home for wayward girls” was the name Patti gave it) while the family went north west of Dubbo to Trangie, where they managed a pub I believe called the Imperial. Once they had the hang of running a pub, they bought the Nevertire pub, a monopoly. Patti going to Bathurst coincided with her blossoming as a young lady, a very attractive young lady. As she says, “I didn’t discover the boys, they found me”. The girls she befriended at boarding school remained her friends all her life. Back then the cool kids smoked, so she fitted right in as she started smoking at 14, nicking them from her brothers and father.  The boarding school girls would dress up on Friday and Saturday nights, go out to the pubs, have boyfriends, all at the tender age of 16/17. She was a young girl who hit a certain age and wanted to have fun, as per the song.  

Her schoolwork went down the spout. So, she told her parents not to waste fees on another year and went to Narromine High School for her last year of school, near Trangie. Most of the girls Patti’s age were at boarding school in Sydney and elsewhere so Patti had the pick of the boys and at 17 was going out a lot with them. There were a lot of social activities in the bush with the epicenter being the Golf Club and the RSL club. There were also Bachelor and Spinster balls, where everyone would dress up and party all w/end. They were all over the place, usually in sheep sheds. Patti was on the organizing committee for the one at Nevertire in 1979, I believe. Guess who provided the booze? 

After high school, in 1977, Patti went to Dubbo Technical College to undertake secretarial studies (typing, shorthand). When she turned 18, she could and did work at the bar in the pub. This was a great earner for her and allowed her to observe a lot of people. Barry ran an illegal bookie on horse races, not uncommon as the NSW Gov’t would take a big cut in tax. Patti sat on the phone on Saturday morning taking bets on the basis that if they were raided, a policeman wouldn’t search a lady’s handbag, where Patti had the betting slips. 

She also flirted like crazy, but that was her outgoing fun-loving personality in action. Patti went back to Newcastle for a w/end for someone’s birthday and she returned a svelte, attractive women, having left as a dorky, just pubescent girl. One of the boys she fancied but ignored her when at school there, was struck by her at this party, but didn’t remember her from earlier but Patti remembered him and took revenge, as only Patti could. She introduced herself as Patricia Ponsonby Smythe and had this poor lad wrapped around her little finger. So much so, that he ventured out to Dubbo, a long journey, to track her down. He went to the Tech College where she was training and asked for her as Patricia Ponsonby Smythe. The teacher said there was no one by that name there, but she had a good guess who it was, and she was right. Ms. Mischief in action. 

In Dubbo, Patti befriended and shared a house and  a girl called Elizabeth Webb (Webby, of course; this is Australia). Again, Patti had a great time…”no one told me there was an exam at the end of the year”, and she failed the course so couldn’t work as a secretary, which was a well-paying job in those days. So, she ended up back at the pub working full time. As she wanted to live by herself she decided to pursue a nursing career at St Luke’s in Potts Point, Sydney’s inner city. She was accepted and moved down to Sydney in mid 1978, at aged 19. 

 

We first met in September 1978, at a party given by Dianna Blackett, who was the younger sister of a friend from the boarding school I attended in Bathurst. Yes, Patti and I went to school in the same town in NSW, but not at the same time. I was there from 1973-74 whereas Patti arrived in 1975. Dianna was the only one of my brother’s friends I didn’t try to “crack onto”, and, funnily enough, the  only one still speaking to me today. Patti doesn’t remember meeting me in 1978 but I remember her vividly. Sometime in 1978/9 he stopped nursing after a while, being not sure if it was the profession for her. 

Anyway, we both met other people, Patti  was proposed to yet again, I went overseas, and we both ended up in Sydney 18 months later when Dianna brought us together for dinner in February 1980. I was going out with another girl at the time, and I had the Spy Mobile (an old 1956 FC Holden) where my girl friend sat in the front with Patti and 2 other girls in the back. However, soon the only girl in the car was Patti, and she was in the front. Patti had restarted her nursing career at St Luke’s by this stage. She would finish night duty then come to my place less than a mile from the hospital in Woolloomooloo and wake me up with a big kiss, etc.  We moved into a flat in Greenwich in June, and the FC was traded for a VW beetle. I proposed to her as we were washing up on August 28th, and she said yes! She was 21 and I was 23 (just). We were married on 6^th Dec 1980. A fast and fun romance, as she was obviously a young lady in high demand, so I needed to act quickly. Some pics to mark the nearly 40 years we were together. 

  

  

Patti was a great mum, but that is story to be told by the boys themselves: Ignatius, Patrick, St. John and Dominic. St John died at 6 weeks, which was a great sadness and shock. Below are some pics of them all:

One of the feats Patti valued highly was her Artist Membership of the Whitney Museum here in NY. She had to demonstrate her chops as an artist so she showed the adjudicator her NyLonDaze blog, and she passed with flying colors. 

Memorials:

We have decided not to have formal memorials as the new Covid variants are making travel and large get togethers too hazardous. We have however three plaques as shown below: 

We are in the process of having a stone engraved in Central Park, NYC, as well as dedicating a tree to her.