Patricia A. Andrews

Click on the tribute wall above to view Patricia's video tribute. Andrews, Patricia A. Dec 22, age 83 of Trenton. Beloved wife of the late Ronald. Dear mother of Sandra, Christopher (Tracey) and Jennifer. Dearest grandmother of Alexandra, Alison and Alyssa. Also survived by her sister Judith McKay. Esteemed Editor Neal Rubin prepared this obituary for Pat Andrews, whose funeral will be celebrated at St. Joseph Parish, Trenton, on Tuesday, December 29 at 10:00 am. Pat Andrews “lived for obituaries,” says her daughter Sandra, and she loved to write – but somehow she never got around to writing her own. It falls to her family, then, to report that celebrated journalist Pat Andrews, 83, died Wednesday, December 22, 2020 at her home in Trenton, leaving behind three children, three grandkids, countless friends, a legacy of charity, and thousands of clippings that once graced newspapers and now live on in scrapbooks and on walls and refrigerators throughout metro Detroit and beyond. Pat knew everyone, forgot nothing, forgave just about everything and kept the ink flowing until the end, writing for the Trenton Tribune about happenings and people around town. The bulk of her career was spent as a reporter, columnist or editor at the Detroit News, News-Herald, Trenton Times, Flat Rock Guardian and Grosse Ile Camera. That was after she taught school in Vassar for a year, and before she spent eight years working for the late U.S. Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn. With Rep. Dingell, Pat mostly dealt with immigration issues, helping people get to and from countries all over the world, particularly in the Middle East. But her heart was in Downriver. The eldest daughter of Percival and Ann Jones of Melvindale, she graduated from Melvindale High, where she was a majorette and – naturally – the editor of the school paper. She went on to Central Michigan University, taught briefly, and moved to Trenton in 1961 to join her late husband, Ronald, who had his own storied career as a teacher and coach at Trenton High. Having come home, she embarked on a journalism journey that saw her interview movie royalty, including Cary Grant, and actual royalty, Queen Noor of Jordan. The Grant interview was her favorite, says longtime friend Karen Mazo, a former mayor of Woodhaven. “She would talk about that,” Mazo says. “He was really, really nice. They both had a daughter named Jennifer, about the same age, and they had a personal conversation about that along with the interview.” Pat was a reporter for the Trenton Times when she met Mazo, who as Woodhaven city clerk was taking minutes on council sessions Pat covered. “Those meetings always took hours,” Mazo says. “She and I would leave there and go to the White Castle in Melvindale and have sliders.” Later, at the News-Herald in the 2000s, Pat started the annual Salvation Army Soup Day, a favorite Downriver fundraiser that is still going strong. She served on the boards of the Guidance Center in Southgate and the Salvation Army and co-founded Women Celebrating Life-Downriver, a charity that's helped hundreds of breast cancer survivors in their recovery. In the 80s, she started the Miss Downriver Pageant, providing scholarships for bright young women. Along with all the pageant winners and others whose lives she touched, Pat is survived by children Sandra of Brownstown Twp., Christopher (Tracey) of Plymouth and Jennifer of New York City, and grandchildren Alexandra, Alison and Alyssa. A memorial service will be held when it’s once again safe to gather.Memorial contributions can be made to Cass Community Social Services(casscommunity.org) of Detroit and Women Celebrating Life-Downriver(wcldownriver.com).Also in Pat’s memory, you are invited to read all of the obituaries, every day – and, of course, to save this one.