Patricia Hughes, Longtime Kings Park Resident, Dies At 77

KINGS PARK, NY — Patricia K. Hughes, a longtime Kings Park resident who spent her twilight years in Port St. Lucie, Florida, died on June 30. She was 77 when she died of Alzheimer’s.

Hughes was born on April 15, 1945, in Brooklyn to the late Joseph & Josephine Kalish, according to her obituary on Tribute Archive. She was the beloved wife of the late Thomas B. Hughes, loving mother of the late Scott Hughes and mother-in-law of Alice Hughes. She also leaves behind many friends but especially her nurse friends whom she thought the world of.

Hughes was the former owner of the Hughes Funeral Home of Kings Park and a longtime surgical nurse at St. John's Episcopal Hospital, Community Hospital of Western Suffolk and St. Catherine of Siena Hospital, according to Tribute Archive. "Pat," as she was affectionately known, also served proudly as a member of DMORT (Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Teams) both domestic and international including TWA Flight 800, Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake that severely hit Thailand and 9/11. She also worked with both the American Red Cross and FEMA on various disasters.

Maureen Sihler, who was Hughes's best friend, said she would most miss Hughes's "wonderful smile," "sense of humor," and desire to look pretty — even when volunteering on a DMORT team in her 60s.

"It’s always a riot because she always kept her hair so," Sihler told Patch. "Even when she was in these [DMORT] teams, sleeping in cots, she would get up in the morning before everybody else and use her little flashlight to make sure she’d have her makeup on. It was kind of like a thing the other girls used to get annoyed at ... Just her prettiness. She always had to look just right."

She was a past member and Suffolk County representative of the Nassau-Suffolk Funeral Directors Association and sat on the advisory board for Funeral Services Education at Nassau Community College.

In 2004, she proudly received the Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Kings Park Chamber of Commerce.

In retirement, she also volunteered her time with the Port St. Lucie Police Department.

"We all loved her," Sihler said.

Visiting hours for Hughes are scheduled for Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Butler-Hughes Funeral Home Inc. at 69 Indian Head Road, Kings Park. Her funeral mass is slated for Friday at 9:30 a.m. at St. Joseph's R.C. Church, Kings Park. Interment will follow at Calverton National Cemetery.