MEMORIAM
Patricia J. Behrbaum
April 15, 1942 -
February 25, 2023
A year ago, Pat Behrbaum passed away after suffering a fall, leaving her many friends and loving family heartbroken. Given the suddenness of her death, we never got an opportunity to tell her how much she meant to us. We do that now.
Pat's life embodied the quote, "There are no strangers here; only friends you haven't yet met." Her warmth and generosity of spirit to every person she met resulted in a very large group of people who called Pat a friend, and her impact on each of them was enormous. It all started at Raleigh Square Condominiums in Sandy Springs over 50 years ago, where Pat and her husband lived with their two young children. Pat quickly became a central figure in the community. She was the mom who looked after the neighborhood kids, with a door always open for a band-aid, a snack, or the occasional trip to the emergency room.
When her children started school at Guy Webb Elementary, Pat quickly became a constant presence at the school, volunteering for everything. So important was she to the morale of the school that the principal held a Pat Behrbaum appreciation day. For sure, endowed with abundant energy, Pat could go a little overboard at times and some of the antics she pursued with her sidekick moms could sometimes resemble an I Love Lucy episode. But those Guy Webb days led to lifelong friendships with these mothers.
When her kids got a little older, Pat began working at Bowen & Perry (later Perry) Realty, where she created an additional network of friends. And living at Raleigh Square until her death, she had long before become the unofficial social chairman, organizing regular pot-luck dinners to keep the community connected. Not to be confused with the weekly Friday night dinners and excursions that she shared with her legion of girlfriends. Whether it be movies, theater, or a Braves game, there was always laughter when Pat was around. Unsurprisingly, Pat celebrated every holiday with flourish, decorating a tree for each holiday. And her love of Christmas was matched by her love of the 4th of July, with the Raleigh Square Parade and celebrations she organized. Extremely patriotic, no one ever loved this country more than Pat did.
But life is not always fun, and Pat was always there to help a sick or grieving friend—driving friends to medical treatments, making daily hospital visits and calls, and going well beyond what anyone would reasonably expect another person to do. These friends in need each say that they could have never gotten through their particular ordeal had it not been for Pat's support.
The most important beneficiary of Pat's remarkable capacity for love was her family. A mother extraordinaire, Pat absolutely adored her children, Julie and Jeff, and they adored her right back. Friends who may have barely met them felt they knew Julie and Jeff because Pat talked about them constantly. And while one might think that you couldn't set the motherhood bar any higher, Pat upped her game when her grandchildren Landon and Lauren LeMaster came along. There was no better grandmother. Until they were teens, Landon and Lauren spent every weekend with Pat, and they loved every minute of the adventures and love that the world's most fun grandmother showered on them. Indeed, until her injury, each day Pat texted Landon a joke and Lauren an inspirational quote.
In our current culture, we hear that loneliness and isolation are rampant. For those lucky enough to know her, Pat was the antidote to all that. She recognized that the key to happiness and the path to a meaningful life lies in connecting with people and making a positive difference for as many of them as you can. We will never meet anyone like Pat Behrbaum again, but what a blessing to have had her in our lives for so many years. Thank you, Pat.
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