Patricia Doyle

On June 4th, 1932, she arrived in a little house on Elm Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland, Patricia May McLain. Patsy was loved by her mother, Cecelia, a fiercely independent woman for her time, and she was the apple of her father John’s eye, an instant princess. She grew up in Gardenville and enjoyed her community of aunts, uncles, and cousins who lived nearby. In their house on Montana Avenue, she lived with her sister, Anna Gansert, and Anna’s husband, while her brother, John (Jack) McLain Jr., was off serving in the Navy during WWII. During the summers, she stayed with her father at the shore on the Middle River and lived on his houseboat.

The war years were hard. Her mother remarried Irvin Jamison, who took her mother out of town for many months, and then sadly Irvin was killed in the Philippines. Irvin was a little girl’s crush, and the loss was heavy. Fortunately, her brother and her mother both returned, and in the years after the war, one of her brother’s friends entered the story, the most enduring princess story of her life.

While she was sitting on the pier, her brother and his friend, Jack, came roaring past in a speedboat, sending her a water salute of sorts, soaking Patsy through. Somehow this did not deter what was to come. At the Girls’ Latin School, she was excelling toward early graduation with honors and scholarships, graduating at the top of her class and receiving a full scholarship to Goucher College. There would be no going to college, though, because, there was John (Jack) F. Doyle (June 16, 1926 – June 13, 2006), a still recovering, wounded WWII Army veteran courting her.

Her father asked her to give up this boy and take her place in the college, but Patsy had other plans. Despite being financially cut off, the two sweethearts continued on, and just months before her 18th birthday, Jack and Patsy went to Elkton and got married on April 8, 1950. In March of 1958, there was the arrival of their first child, Timothy. At that time, they had bought their second home, but the construction was delayed and they lived with the young couple who had bought their first house on Raspe Avenue; the two couples became lifelong friends.

Four years after moving to their new home in Perry Hall, a second child arrived in April 1962, Valerie. Life was filled with many joys and many hard times, but Pat and Jack raised their two children, gave service to the community, attended Perry Hall Methodist Church, and made many friends. Weekends were spent with nieces, nephews, and friends swimming in the backyard pool, with the barbecue going, and cases of Coca-Cola soft drinks. Eventually, the children grew, and Valerie married Giovanni on Pat and Jack’s 42nd wedding anniversary; on their 45th anniversary, the first grandchild arrived, Cecelia. Another grandchild, Marco, arrived three years later in April.

Pat and Jack spent many happy times at the beach with friends and family. The little condo at the West Winds was a place where Jack and Patsy became like the sweethearts of earlier days. They made many new friends at the beach, and Pat continued going after she lost Jack in their 57th year of marriage. The beach was a beloved destination and it was sad when the physical limitations of aging prevented her from going to this happy place. In the last years, the dementia of old age turned into story time of past memories. In her mind, Pat returned many times to her shore, the streetcar, and she believed herself to be staying in the West Winds when she was staying at the memory care.

After more than a year of slow decline on hospice care, Patricia peacefully took her final breaths and joined Jack and other passed loved ones on January 26th, 2026.

On May 2nd, 2026, at 10:30 in the morning, a brief visitation followed by a memorial service will take place at Perry Hall United Methodist Church. The church is located at 9515 Belair Road, Baltimore, MD 21236. Patricia’s ashes were interred at the Baltimore National Veteran’s Cemetery next to her beloved Jack. The Veteran’s Legacy Memorial Websites  provides a location map if you wish to visit in person, and further allows appropriate memorials to be added to the page of John Francis as you visit the site virtually.

Pat lived a long an mostly healthy life, and by making a lifesaving donation to one of these organizations a sick child may be made well and given the chance for a long and healthy life of their own, therefore, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital Online Donations - St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Shriner’s Children’s Donate to Shriners Children's — Give Today.