Family and friends this week were mourning the death of Pat Pradel, wife of Naperville’s longest-serving mayor. Married for 55 years to A. George Pradel, currently the city’s mayor emeritus, Pat Pradel died Saturday morning at Edward Hospital in Naperville at age 75, from complications arising from her long battle with cancer.
“She’s up in heaven, and she told the doctor she wasn’t afraid to die. She knew where she was going,” George Pradel said Monday afternoon. “She was such a blessing to me, and I have comfort with my kids that she’s not hurting anymore.”
Born Patricia C. Burke on May 7, 1940, in Chicago, Pat Pradel met her future husband when she was 19. They married exactly one year after their first date, and their three children – George A. Pradel, Carol Pradel and Gary Pradel – were born over the following six years. The couple also added three foster children to their household in the ensuing years, and later cared for Virginia Pradel, George Pradel’s mother, when she was struggling with Alzheimer’s disease.
“She was so brave!” said longtime friend Bev Patterson Frier.
A neighbor of George Pradel when they were growing up, Frier said he called her on Saturday morning to notify her of his wife’s death.
“I’m telling you, Pat is a saint. She took care of George’s mother, and she was always there for him,” she said, adding that the city’s late first lady didn’t find her husband’s highly public life troubling. “She was happy to take a back seat.”
Frier, from whom George and Pat Pradel both took organ lessons early in their marriage, said she later spoke with Carol Pradel, offering to provide organ music during the memorial service planned later this week.
“She thought that was a wonderful thought, and she said that would make her mother so happy,” Frier said.
Peg Price, who served two terms as the city’s mayor, said Pat Pradel was known for her quiet loyalty to her family.
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate Pat, because without her, (George) could never have accomplished all he did,” Price told the Naperville Sun last winter.
The two spouses were steadfastly supportive of each other, Price said this week.
“Pat was such a big part of George. He could not have done what he did without her backing. She was there for everything. They had a very warm, wonderful relationship,” she said. “She was such a good, good woman – something we should all strive to be.”
Emy Trotz, George Pradel’s longtime assistant in the mayor’s office, had similar reflections.
“She was a lovely, wonderful person – always giving, always caring about others, always putting them ahead of herself,” Trotz said Monday.
Pat Pradel was known for keeping a low profile and was always ready to help her husband in every way she could, Trotz said, making sure he got to where he needed to go.
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A well-liked public figure who served an unprecedented 20 years in the city’s top elected position, George Pradel told the Naperville Sun earlier this year that his wife’s long illness was one of the main reasons he had opted not to pursue a sixth term in April’s consolidated elections. Despite her long struggle with cancer, he said he found it difficult to see his wife pass on.
“It’s hard to see them shut down, though, especially your wife,” he said, noting that the couple’s son, George Pradel, arrived Friday night from his home in Colorado. “She waited for George to come in from Colorado, so when he came in, she shut down.”
Pat Pradel’s devotion to her husband and their kids was unwavering, family friend Kristi Landorf said.
“Mayor Pradel certainly deserves all the accolades he gets,” said Landorf, president and CEO of Little Friends in Naperville, pointing out the official’s extensive community involvement and volunteerism. “But I think what goes less noticed is that what made it possible was a great wife.”
Landorf, who said she became friends with Carol Pradel through her volunteer work in the community, related that Pat Pradel was adamant about going out to buy a card for her daughter’s birthday in June, despite the pain she was experiencing from her illness.
“She’s a mom, and that’s how moms work. She was a mom until the very end, and I think that’s pretty astounding,” Landorf said. “There’s no question that she was suffering, but she absolutely had a list of things that she wanted done, so when she was gone – not that it’s ever easy – most of the things that were very important to the family would be done.”
Nothing was left unsaid between Pat Pradel and her loved ones, Landorf added.
“That’s a gift that you can’t get any other way.”
A memorial visitation is scheduled from 2 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, 815 S. Washington St., Naperville. A celebration of Pat Pradel’s life will take place at 7 p.m. Future burial of her ashes will take place in Naperville Cemetery. Arrangements have been made by Friedrich-Jones Funeral Home & Cremation Services in Naperville.
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George Pradel’s statement
Naperville Mayor Emeritus A. George Pradel, the city’s mayor for a record two decades that ended in May, issued this statement Saturday after being at his wife’s bedside at Edward Hospital with the couple’s three adult children early that morning as she succumbed to her illness.
“Today I lost the great love of my life. For 55 years my strong, kind, compassionate, and lovely wife Pat stood by my side through thick and thin. She was my steadfast rock and the constant in the Pradel family’s world. She was the silent champion of Naperville, supporting me and caring for our family when my duties as Mayor kept me away from home and out in the community. Her love for this community was strong and genuine, if not always front and center in the public eye.
“Pat and I shared a deep faith, and that faith gives me comfort and hope as my family and I walk a new path in these coming days and years. I ask all of you to pray for Pat and my family. Cherish your loved ones and tell them often that you love them, because time together goes all too quickly. While I’m profoundly sad and heartbroken today, I smile in thanks and gratitude knowing I am beyond blessed and lucky. Blessed to have been graced by a love that I can hardly put words behind and lucky to have had the joy of loving Pat. Her memory is my guiding light and her legacy now a finished chapter in our City’s story.
“Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, and sympathy, both throughout Pat’s illness and now. Your words are a comfort and a testament to Naperville’s character of coming together during the tough times. My family and I appreciate your support and wishes and wish all of you the same kind of happiness Pat brought to our lives.”