Patrick Crowley · 2012 Honoree

Patrick Crowley grew up in the Chicago suburb of Glenview with five brothers and four sisters. His father was an imposing, highly regarded small town lawyer who gave back to his community as a volunteer fireman. His mother, a school teacher, managed the home, cared for a series of adult relatives, and served on the local park district board for thirty years. A ten-acre park there is named in her honor. It was a loving home where everyone worked hard. When, as a teenager, Patrick quit his after-school job at Marshall Field’s because he felt he deserved more pay, his father told him, “You can’t quit. Go get your job back.” And he did. 

After college and graduate studies in economics, Patrick found his way to Washington and a job with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission focusing on oil and gas litigation work. He lived initially with his brother Tom, who worked on Capitol Hill, and Patrick found he liked the neighborhood. Even so, his first house, at 14th and C Streets, SE, proved to have its challenges. It was the early ‘90s; rampant drugs and drug-dealing were taking a particularly high toll in that area. He first began walking his dog, a St. Bernard named Shannon, in nearby Congressional Cemetery for safety. The unkempt 35-acre historic burying ground began to exert a hold on him. He soon found himself picking up trash as he walked and wondering why the place was in such disrepair. He had no idea how much his involvement there would change his life, or what changes it would bring to the cemetery.

Patrick began pestering other dog walkers to join the “K-9 Corps” that had been created to help pay to keep the grass mowed. Today the corps is a well-organized group of 650 dog owners who contribute a significant amount of money and hundreds of volunteer hours to clean the grounds and assist cemetery management in other ways. Patrick offered his service to the volunteer board that ran the cemetery and, as one of his first contributions, mapped all 55,000 grave sites. In 2011 Patrick organized the “Dead Man’s Run,” a five-kilometer race through the cemetery grounds which raised nearly $24,000. He anticipates that this year’s race will have close to 1,000 runners, including, he hopes, a good turnout of his sisters and brothers. 

Earlier this spring Patrick was the obvious choice to serve as the cemetery’s Interim Senior Manager while the board rethinks staffing needs. Having worked for many years as an expert witness in the oil and gas industries, he is unflappable. When 40 school children showed up unexpectedly wanting to do volunteer work, he got them busy digging up sunken footstones and resetting them level with other stones. In a one week span he oversaw, in his words, “an interment, an inurnment, and an entombment,” finding deep satisfaction in helping families at difficult moments. 

Patrick can’t decide which is his favorite part of the cemetery… but he does know that someday he wants a sandstone bench there, marking where he rests, engraved with the words, “To Thine Own Self Be True.” The grounds that it overlooks will owe a great deal to the care and dedication of Patrick Crowley.