Former Herald Staff Writer Patricia Rudy Dies

Herald Staff Report
(From the issue of 1/30/03)

Patricia Spencer Rudy, former staff writer for the Arlington Catholic HERALD, died suddenly Jan. 23 at her home in Elliottsburg, Pa. She was 43.

"Trish was a very gentle, sensitive and loving person," said HERALD Editor Michael Flach. "We are all shocked and saddened by the news of her sudden death. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her husband, Mike, and her family here in Virginia."

"Trish touched countless lives through her work with the HERALD," said Managing Editor Ann Augherton. "Her gentle manner, thoughtfulness and love for her work touched all of us. I appreciated her friendship and her sense of humor. Her loss is devastating to all of us."

Rudy’s funeral service was held Thursday, Jan. 30, at Money and King Funeral Home in Vienna. Interment followed at Fairfax Memorial Park. A Memorial Mass will be offered on Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 10 a.m. at the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington. Fathers Paul deLadurantaye and Paul Grankauskas will concelebrate.

Rudy started working for the paper in 1995 as a part-time volunteer. She was a regular freelance contributor for more than a year before she was hired as a full-time staff writer in 1997. She edited our "Coming Events" and "Singles Scene" column throughout her tenure with the paper.

Many of her feature stories centered on her adopted home – the Catholic community at St. Francis de Sales Parish in Purcellville. She first became acquainted with the Purcellville area when she interviewed Father Martin Schratz, O.F.M.Cap., former pastor of St. Francis de Sales, in the summer of 1995. She immediately felt at home in the country setting and decided to relocate there from her home in Reston.

She wrote extensively about its parish life, including features on the St. Francis Catholic Shoppe, a Purcellville business which features books, articles, artifacts and gifts with a Catholic slant; the annual Purcellville Heritage Antiques Show; local Christian artists Tomas and Bonnie Fernandez; a lay Franciscan missionary serving in Kenya; the Ministry of Praise group; and local retreat centers.

One of her most moving pieces concerned a Lovettsville couple – Dave and Gail Kelly -- who adopted a five-year-old boy who was both blind and deaf. The boy had a tremendous spiritual impact on both the Kellys and the larger parish community.

A native of Vienna, Rudy attended George Marshall High School in Falls Church and earned her bachelor’s degree in English literature from George Mason University in Fairfax. Although she worked at various jobs in real estate, her love of writing continually attracted her to newspaper work.

She left the HERALD in August 2002 and moved to Pennsylvania with her husband, Michael. She was working part-time at a preschool at the time of her death. In addition to her husband, Rudy is survived by her parents, John and Ruth Spencer of Vienna, and a sister, Karin Stephenson, of Potomac Falls.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made in her name to Lumen Christi Counseling Center, c/o St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, Falls Church, or to the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, c/o the Arlington Catholic HERALD, 200 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, Va. 22203.

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