Patricia McElroy is our 2024 READ to Lead Award Honoree. The READ to Lead Award honors an individual who exhibits the bravery and willingness to lead – especially when such leadership is difficult.
Patricia – or Patti as she prefers to be called – was destined for leadership ever since she was the youngest of four born in Springfield, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her parents instilled a sense of community and responsibility to care for others in Patti and her three older brothers. Her Aunt Tess, a teacher, and Uncle Merritt lived across the street, and Aunt Tess spent many hours reading with Patti and acting out the parts of each book they read together. “Aunt Tess made the books come alive by reading in each character’s voice,” Patti shared with Jeremy, our fictional Jeremy’s Journey storyteller, for her book. She also remembers, “…sitting on my dad’s lap and reading the newspaper when I was a toddler. We read the ‘funnies’ in the newspaper. Later, he taught me how to read the stock market report.” But most importantly, Patti shared about her family, “They were always focused on something greater than themselves.”
That is a thread that has woven through Patti’s entire life and career, which led her in several different directions. As she was wrapping up her incredibly involved primary and secondary education, her AP English teacher encouraged Patti to go into law school. She told Jeremy, “Ms. Hirt awakened the passion in me. Her attitude was, ‘of course you can do this – the world would miss you if you didn’t go for it.’” Patti then attended Temple University’s School of Law before becoming a commercial litigator for 15 years. But something greater was calling Patti. While practicing law, Patti learned two of the most valuable lessons of her life: to trust a system of justice that works and to understand how principles of law protect the least of us. But she wanted to discover what was beyond the principles of law created by humans.
Patti decided to attend Yale Divinity School, and after graduating from higher education for a second time, she became an ordained Minister of the Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in 2007. She was ordained in the very church in Springfield, Penn. where her parents taught Sunday school.
Patti’s career then took her to UNC Health where she was a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) educator and administrator. Here, she met her lifetime partner, Elyse, and together they relocated to Tacoma, Washington, where Patti continued as an educator and administrator – and began racing 40-ft. sailing yachts in Puget Sound with Elyse and their two dogs. They relocated again to Jacksonville in 2016, when Patti joined Baptist Health to run their spiritual care department, before later joining VyStar Credit Union in 2021. Patti’s tenacity for helping people and serving others through leadership has only increased throughout her career journey – and she credits reading as the key to unlocking it all.
As an avid reader and an exceptional leader, Patti told Jeremy, “The road to empathy and possibility comes when you lay your eyes on the words that describe experiences of others. Whether fiction or nonfiction, it is an intimate experience. I found that the experience of empathy comes within your own imagination and heart. The world is opened within a child’s mind when they are reading. That’s what READ USA is doing: helping students to experience a world outside themselves and process meaning inside of their heads and hearts. There is nothing more important.”
We believe there is nothing more important as well, Patti! READ USA is so grateful for your leadership and community stewardship and for you being a beacon of inspiration to all who cross your path! We are thrilled to honor and recognize all that you do.
You can read more about Patti by ordering her Jeremy’s Journey book for $20/copy here.