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07/14/2022 10:52 AMPatricia “Pat” Francesca Rittenhouse died peacefully on July 3 at home surrounded by many loving family members.
Pat was born on Feb. 22, 1929, in Morristown, New Jersey to Robert Thomas Slater and Aileen Adam Rittenhouse. Pat was raised by her grandmother, Martha Adam Rittenhouse, and during her youth lived and was educated in many towns throughout the Northeast. She spent her teen years working the pony rides at Asbury Park, New Jersey where she developed a lifelong love of horses and riding. Along with the boys on staff, Pat was in charge of boarding horses and fitting the animals for saddles and horseshoes. In 1950, she married Robert “Bob” John Mikus of White Plains, New York, and over the next 25 years, she and Bob raised their three children on a small dairy farm in LaGrangeville, New York. During that time, Pat graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Marist College, followed by a master’s degree from Fordham University. With those degrees, she went to work for the Spackenkill School District in the Town of Poughkeepsie and taught Spanish to high school and middle school students for twenty-one years.
After Pat “retired” from teaching, she moved to Aurora, New York and pursued employment as a National Park Ranger at the Woman’s’ Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls, New York for six years and afterwards, returned to teaching and taught Spanish and Latin at Tyburn Academy in Auburn, New York. Her time teaching at Tyburn, (where she was known as “Dona Pat”), plus private tutoring, went on well into her late ‘70s, early ‘80s.
In 2012, Pat moved to Clinton and lived with her oldest son David and daughter-in-law Tina until her death.
Pat was an avid reader and lifelong student of history, the arts, and classical music. She was an accomplished artist who loved to sketch horses, people, and landscapes. Everywhere Pat lived, she was involved with the local Episcopal parish and served as choir director, choir member, lay reader, and chalice administrator. She loved the Episcopal Church and its liturgies and music.
She will be missed dearly by her three children and their spouses, David R. and Tina Mikus of Clinton, Todd R. and Lori Mikus of Wappingers Falls, New York and Kyra R. and Christopher Sheehan of Canton; along with her grandchildren, Sarah Trichardt of Denver, Colorado, David Mikus Jr. of Old Saybrook, Michael J. Mikus of Fort Pierce, Florida, Matthew Mikus of Poughkeepsie, New York, Erica J. Sheehan of West Hartford and Emma L. Sheehan of Canton; and great-granddaughter, Zoe Nelson of Poughkeepsie, New York; plus many other family members and friends.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 20, at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 232 Durham Road, Madison. Burial of her ashes will occur in the Memorial Garden at the church. A reception will follow in the parish hall after the services. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church; donations are accepted by check or online.