Patrick McLaughlin was born in the Bronx in the early 40s to William and Mary (née Sheehan), of Counties Donegal and Kerry. The middle child of six kids, Pat went to Saint Angela Merici grammar school where upon graduating, he proudly tells us, he was awarded the Ancient Order of Hibernians Commodore Barry History Medal. He went on to graduate from Cardinal Hayes HS (60), Manhattan College BA (64), and later on earned his Masters degrees in Special Education and Administration from Fordham university.
Pat began his career in the New York City Public School system in 1968 as a special education teacher at Junior High School 80 in the Bronx. After almost 10 years in the classroom Pat went on to administration with the Committees on Special Education in Districts 11, 4, Bronx High Schools, and District 8, retiring after 32 years in September 2000.
This past April Pat and his wife Bernadette (née Towey) celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. They’ve been blessed with four sons, Liam, Conan, Patrick and Devin, and five grandchildren.
Before moving to Yonkers Pat and his family lived in Woodlawn section of the Bronx where he was instrumental in getting all the necessary OKs from the city and the community to build “Paddy’s Field”, The Irish football field in Woodlawn.
After moving to Yonkers Pat became very active coaching youth sports with the Dunwoodie Youth Association, also serving as its president for four years. During that time, he was also active in support of Irish nationalists in northeast Ireland.
Sponsored by his son Liam, Pat joined the Ancient Order of Hibernians In 2000. He has been an active member of the AOH since that time, serving every year since 2000 on the golf and charities committees and since 2002 to 2020 year served as our division historian.
Pat is especially proud of working with his son Liam to get the Yonkers City Council to pass a resolution supporting the McGuinness’s principles, the first city in the United States to pass this resolution. In 2015, along with Hibernian brother Larry McCrudden, Pat was selected as Hibernian of the year.
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