ROCKLAND — Patricia Keegan Harden, 81, beloved wife of David O. Harden, died Sunday, March 24, 2019 at the Glenridge Rehabilitation and Long Term Facility in Augusta from complications caused by multiple organ failure.  

Born in West Chester, New York, May 18, 1937, Patricia was the younger daughter of Vincent and Eleanor (Cassidy) Keegan of Rye, New York.  After graduating from Rye High School in 1954 she entered her mother’s alma mater, Simmons College in Boston where she majored in business, graduating in 1958.

After working in New York City for a year, Pat returned to Simmons when she was offered a job in the admissions office. She was soon asked to take over the newly organized student financial aid office, which she successfully administered for many years.

During her career in financial aid, Pat was invited to testify to Congress in Washington twice. She spoke to the House Education Sub-committee concerning Pell Grants and student work study programs, both areas in which she was a pioneer and which she helped initiate.

While working at Simmons, she met her future husband, David, when he moved into the apartment house where she was living. David was a professional travel agent, so they were soon enjoying trips which eventually took them all over the United States and to more than 50 countries in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, the South Pacific, and Central and South America.

One of Pat’s favorite pastimes was sharing travel stories and memories of places she had enjoyed with family and longtime friends.

Pat and David Harden were married on April 15, 1978 at the Rockland Congregational Church. They lived most of their married life in and around Boston, but interrupted their New England lifestyle when David was offered an opportunity to lease and manage the Captain’s Quarters Inn on the island of Saba in the Netherlands Antilles in 1978. This was a period of her married life that Pat particularly enjoyed; but, while living in the Caribbean, she returned to Boston several times a year to work with funding for financial aid programs at Simmons College.

After four years in the sun, the Hardens returned to Boston where Pat worked in financial aid at several other area colleges until her retirement in November of 2007. The couple then moved to Rockland and lived in David’s family home for the next 12 years.

During her retirement, Pat enjoyed volunteer service at Spectrum Generations helping its director and working on tax preparation for those needing assistance. She also volunteered at Aldermere Farm and was active in the Ladies Guild of the Rockland Congregational Church.

Patricia was predeceased by her parents; her older sister Virginia Keegan Mellor; and her nephew, James Mellor.

She is survived by her husband David of Rockland; her nephew Edward Mellor and his wife Jennifer and their three daughters, Mary, Sarah, and Catherine of Little Silver, NJ; her brothers-in-law, George Mellor of Block Island, RI, and Brian Harden of Rockland; and many cousins as well as two special longtime friends, Ellen Kelly Schulten of Cumberland Foreside and Virginia Metcalfe Lucil of Harwich, MA.

A Memorial Service will be held Friday, April 5, at 2 p.m., at Burpee, Carpenter and Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland. The Reverend Seth D. Jones will officiate.

Following the service there will be a reception for family and friends at 104 Limerock Street.

Burial will be held Friday, June 14, at 1 p.m., at Achorn Cemetery in Rockland.

Those who wish may contribute in Patricia’s memory to the Maine Coast Heritage Trust/Aldermere Farm, 70 Russell Avenue, Rockport, ME 04856 or to the Abiding Memorial Fund of the Rockland Congregational Church, 180 Limerock Street, Rockland, ME 04841.

To share a memory or condolence with the Harden family, visit their Book of Memories at www.bchfh.com.