Paul Thomas Pate

Mr. Paul Thomas Paté, age 91, of Holliston MA, died Wednesday (October16, 2024) at Timothy Daniels House Skilled Nursing Center in Holliston MA, after a period of declining health.

Paul was born in Boston MA, into a family of artistic characters—painters, illustrators, actors, musicians and architects. He was the son of Joseph David Paté, Sr. and Mary Beatrice (White) Paté, and brother to Larry, David, Martha and Tom. He attended Sacred Heart High School in Newton, MA, and took courses in art and painting. He was a Korean war veteran, having served in the US Army.

Paul married his beloved, Mary Louise LaVoie, a Milford girl born and raised, in 1969. They had many happy years together living in Milford before she passed away in 2005.Shortly thereafter he moved to Mission Springs apartments for the elderly in Holliston. He made good friends there and spent time developing his talent as a painter while keeping up a very active social life. He rarely missed any of the local senior centers’ luncheons, dinners, or entertainments, and especially loved their senior dances. He excelled as a dance partner. Since Paul’s favorite hobby was old movies he became a living encyclopedia of related knowledge, and a popular guy at trivia games.

Paul was also deeply faithful. After his move to Holliston, he was a parishioner of St. Mary’s but would also attend other Catholic churches in the area during the week, “just for the fun of it.”In his later years he attended Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Shrine across the street from Mission Springs. He volunteered at the Betania II Catholic Evangelization Center and was a member of the Vision of Peace Prayer Community of St. Joseph Parish, both in Medway. He thought of the friends he made through faith as his chosen family. He said he would be forever grateful for their love, care, and support.

Before he retired in 1995, Paul had been an employee of Roche Bros. Supermarket in Wellesley, MA for 13 years and by Stop and Shop, also in Wellesley, for 17 years before that. He had many different jobs before settling at the supermarket, but his job was not his calling. He identified himself as primarily, an artist.

He designed his world around making time for his art, his life with Mary, and the church. He took each summer off from the store to return to Kennebunkport, Maine, where many of his family members had been living since his grandmother opened a beach hotel there in the 1920s.He worked part-time for his brother David, a builder, as an interior house painter but spent much of the summer working on his own paintings. He and Mary also enjoyed buying and selling in the summer flea market trade and together explored all the wonderful sites and towns across New England.

As an artist he found joy in oil painting on found objects, particularly cardboard. Working the landscape of imagination, his hundreds of paintings made over the years reflect a soft surrealism. Solitary ships sail under turbulent skies; the charming or funny play against the wild and fractured. In his works, symbols of the light of his hope and faith echo in his use of the sun, the moon, and the stars.

To his family who survive him Paul Paté was the classic wacky uncle who never forgot a birthday and was probably the last person alive to write them actual paper letters, always including an original joke or pun and a funny drawing. Niece Catherine Pate of Cambridge, MA, nephew Michael O’Brien of Holly Springs, NC, nephew Kenneth Pate, of Sanford, ME, niece Rebecca O’Brien of Arlington, MA, niece Danielle McPherson of Kennebunk, ME, and great-nephew William Bonney of Seattle, WA, will always remember his wry sense of humor, his delight when he could make us laugh, and his kind heart.

His Relatives & friends are invited to attend his Mass of Christian Burial on Tuesday (October 22nd) at 11:00Am in St. Mary’s Church, 708 Washington Street (Rte 16), Holliston MA. Burial, with Military Honors, will follow in Lake Grove Cemetery in Holliston MA. There are no funeral home visiting hours. Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Edwards Memorial Funeral Home, 44 Congress Street, Milford MA. Please visit www.edwardsmemorialfuneralhome.com for complete obituary & condolence book.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Our lady of Fatima Shrine, 101 Summer Street, Holliston, MA 01746

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