Patrick E. Doherty

Patrick Emmitt Doherty, 84, died Saturday, August 27, 2011, at his home in Lenexa, Kansas, following an extended illness.

Pat is survived by his wife of 60 years, Luella (Befort) Doherty, their eight children James M. Doherty and his wife Susan, Patrick M. Doherty and his wife Teresa, Maureen A. Huppe and her husband Mark, Daniel E. Doherty and his wife Mirian, Timothy M. Doherty, Sheila A. Barmby and her husband Gavin, Sean M. Doherty and his wife Julie, and Colleen A. Kolich and her husband William, son-in-law Steve Mauton, their 34 grandchildren, and their 11 great-grandchildren.

Pat was born March 31, 1927, was baptized into the Catholic faith at Blessed Sacrament Church, and is preceded in death by his parents, James and Teresa Doherty, and by his beloved brothers and sisters: James, Hugh, Joseph, Thomas, Daniel, Eugene, Teresa, Mary, and Ann Nolan.

Pat grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and attended Bishop Ward High School. His high school years were interrupted by service in the United States Army in the last days of World War II. During his military service, he was promoted to sergeant at the age of 18, making him one of the youngest army sergeants in the European theater during the war. During his service he helped reclaim Berchtesgaden, Hitler's luxury retreat in the Bavarian Alps. He took pride in having made, perhaps, the definitive commentary on the Third Reich by peeing in Hitler's swimming pool. He also participated in destroying unexploded munitions in post-war France, where he was presumably better behaved.

Following an Honorable Discharge, he returned to finish high school at Bishop Ward, where he played basketball and football, earning a spot on the All-City team in basketball in 1947. Following high school, Pat attended St. Benedict's College in Atchison, Kansas, for two years, starring on the basketball team in 1947 and 1948. Though he was recruited by the Boston Celtics, he married Luella in 1952, and began a long career with Southwestern Bell Telephone Company, ending his career in 1989 at AT&T after 40 years of service. He helped build the telephone infrastructure of Johnson County during its explosive growth during the 1960s and 70s, working on the first cell-phone networks in Johnson County towards the end of his career.

After retirement, Pat volunteered for Catholic Charities and worked part time as a marshal at St. Andrews golf course. However, the work in which Pat took greatest pride was his family. He most loved to hear the same family stories repeated over and over, and would erupt in laughter each time they were told, as though he had never heard them before.

He and Luella raised their eight children in Shawnee, Kansas, and belonged to St. Joseph Parish in Shawnee. He coached CYO basketball for many years, and his teams' success at his patented full-court press was legendary. He loved to be surrounded by his grandchildren, giving them each time on his lap and plying them with candy in politically incorrect quantities.

Pat reserved his greatest earthly love, though, for his wife Luella. She was his best friend and life-long love. Her love for Pat was proven in the last four years of his life. She cared for him as he became progressively more helpless, all day every day, in a thousand ways, small and great, that print can never express. During this time, she was assisted in his care by their children, by Shelly Scott, and by the staff of Catholic Communities Hospice. Pat left this world as he came into it: in the friendship of Jesus Christ and in an unwavering love for His Church.

The family suggests memorial contributions to:

Catholic Charities of Northeast Kansas

9720 W. 87th Street

Overland Park, Kansas 66212

or online at www.catholiccharitiesks.org

or

Sisters, Servants of Mary

800 N. 18th Street

Kansas City, Kansas 66102

Visitation and Funeral Service

A visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m., Monday, August 29, 2011, at Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 11300 W. 103rd Street, Overland Park, Kansas, where a Rosary will be recited at 6 p.m. Funeral Mass will be at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, August 30, 2011, at the church; burial to follow at Resurrection Cemetery, Lenexa, Kansas.