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Professor Patrick Hayes McNamara, a resident of New Mexico since 1970 and of Corrales since 1975, went home to God on November 16th, 2001, after a brief battle with brain cancer. Patrick was born in Merced, California in 1929. After completing his undergraduate education at Santa Clara University, he earned his master's degree at St. Louis University. He then began his studies for the priesthood as a member of the California Order of the Society of Jesus. Always active in his pursuit of social justice, he worked toward a PhD in Sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles, researching the relationship between the Mexican-American migrant worker community and the Catholic Church. After leaving the Society of Jesus in 1968, he married his one true love, Joan Vivian Foley, whom he met while in graduate school in Los Angeles. They moved to El Paso, where he taught Sociology for two years at the University of Texas at El Paso. In 1970, he accepted a position in the Department of Sociology at the University of New Mexico, where he taught for twenty-seven years before retiring in 1998. Although he served briefly as chair of the department, his great passion was teaching: during his career, he taught thousands of undergraduate and graduate students and was well-known in the University for his entertaining lectures on the history of Sociology, which he often delivered in a French accent, dressed as Emile Durkheim. He was a beloved professor and mentor to many students, winning the University's Teacher of the Year Award in 1986. Throughout his career, he authored many books and articles and won several national awards for his pioneering research on youth in the Catholic Church, his study of Catholicism and Mexican-Americans, and his research on trends in stewardship and giving in mainline American churches. He was a member of the American Sociological Association, the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion, and former President of the Association for the Study of Religion. In his spare time, Patrick was a loving father and husband, an accomplished musician and composer, spoke five languages, and won several awards for his bread baking at the New Mexico State Fair. A gentle man of great faith, Patrick will be remembered by his friends, colleagues and thousands of former students for his self-effacing sense of humor, his genuine compassion , and his kindness to those around him. He is survived and deeply missed by his wife, Joan Foley McNamara; daughter, Laura McNamara and her husband, Paul Johnson of Albuquerque; daughter, Amy McNamara Furtado and her husband, Mark Furtado, of San Leandro, California; brothers, Stephen McNamara and wife, Clarice of Merced, California, Thomas McNamara and wife, Patricia of Santa Cruz, California; and many other nieces, nephews, colleagues, friends, and former students. I have decided to go Where springs not fail, To fields where flies no sharp and sided hail And a few lilies blow. And I have asked to be Where no storms come, Where the green swell is in the havens dumb, And out of the swing of the sea. Gerard Manly Hopkins, SJ A rosary will be recited on Monday at 7:00 p.m. at French Mortuary-Westside Chapel, 9300 Golf Course Rd. NW (3 blocks North of Paseo Del Norte). Friends may visit Monday 3:00 p.m. till after the rosary. Services will be Tuesday, 10:00 a.m. at the Aquinas Newman Center, 1818 Las Lomas Rd. NE. Interment will follow at Sunset Memorial Park. French Mortuary - Westside Chapel, 9300 Golf Course Rd. NW.
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