Patricia Jennings, long-time Harvard resident (Pat or Patty Ann to her friends), decided “it is time to wind this thing down”. She took flight from this world on 6/29/26 at 10:05 pm under the Strawberry Moon, serenaded by Pastor Sean Witty’s guitar and surrounded by family and friends.

Born Patricia Ann Head on 7/3/1936 in Madison, WI, to Don Head and Ina (Stevenson) Head. Her mother, Ina, a trailblazer with her own nutrition-based radio show and nutritional consulting work with colleges, died when Pat was only 7. Pat was sent to live on her aunt Vera and uncle Leon’s horse farm in Minnesota, where she rode a pony to a one-room schoolhouse and learned the necessity of helping out to keep the farm life humming. She subsequently made her way to another family farm where she helped her grandma Della in the kitchen, making the big breakfast and midday meals for the farm hands. When her father remarried her stepmother, Phyliss, Pat returned to Arlington, VA, where her father was a prominent radar expert working in Washington, DC, on guided interceptors during WWII. Her young teenage years were spent riding bikes and playing with her friends around the Lincoln Memorial with her dog Taffy always at her side.

A 1954 graduate of Washington & Lee High School in Arlington, VA, she applied to Bucknell University, including a personal note saying “I want to come to your school and will be there in the coming fall”. At Bucknell (because they couldn’t say no), Pat became a core member of Kappa Delta sorority, known as PH the Planner and remembered for her crystal blue eyes and organizing fun, scrappy adventures. She graduated with a BA in psychology in 1958 and then achieved her Master's in psychology from Harvard University Extension School in 1999.

She married Stephen Anthony Jennings in 1958 and settled in Kendall Park, then Colonia, NJ. Pat formed a special relationship with Steve’s young sister Suzie, who also had lost her mom at a young age. Pat took a job teaching high school English in Princeton, NJ, and by 1962 had two girls in tow, Lynn and Della. The family moved to Scotland in 1965 for Steve’s job with Singer Corporation, which brought many fun times and left a formative impression on Pat, further igniting her love of people, travel and adventure.

In 1968, the family moved back to the United States and settled in Harvard, MA. It was Harvard that truly became her home, where she raised her family and invested herself in the community. She and her good friend Sally Kennedy started their own catering business, Creative Catering, after providing a luncheon for a friend desperate for party planning help. Creative Catering evolved to include large and small weddings and special events; one highlight was a dinner for visiting dignitaries at the French Consulate in Boston.

In 1992, Pat and Steve moved to New Boston, NH, for 15 years, where Pat made close and enduring friends she kept for the remainder of her life. Her community accomplishments there include:

• -Library Trustee of the Whipple Free Library
• -Implemented a library-sponsored educational and entertainment program for adults.
• - Speakers and topics included Senator George McGovern, Red Sox great Rico Petrocelli, a chocolate tasting, medicines at the South Pole, and a panel discussion of UFOs.
• -Design, planting, and care of New Boston Town Commons
• -New Boston Central School Arts Community Chair

In 2006, Pat moved back to Harvard to enjoy life near her daughter Della and granddaughters Patrice and Meaghan, who were her pride and joy.

Her community contributions at Harvard were extensive, numerous, and memorable. In 1972, along with Audrey Ball and Beeps Clark, Pat organized the first League of Women Voters Flea Market, which is still a yearly highlight in the town. Additional positions include (it may be shorter to list the committees she was not on):

• -Library Trustee for many years and Chair of the 1985-86 Hapgood Library Renovation Project
• -Congregational Church member and Clerk of the Works for the kitchen renovation as part of the 2010 church addition, as well as Member of the Congregational Church Property and Apple Festival Committees
• -Board Member of the Warner Free Lecture Committee
• -Town Pilot Project volunteer, Town Center Sewer Committee
• -Harvard Historical Society Board Member
• -4th of July Committee, and in charge of organizing the antique car parade
• -Hildreth Elementary School Council
• -Bromfield School Celebration overnight chaperone, where she played a fortune teller character for many years
• -Friends of the Council on Aging volunteer helping to organize the First Night celebration
• -War Monument Committee is helping to both preserve existing monuments and bring a new monument to the Common to honor those who served
• -Member of the Council on Aging Board of Directors and instrumental in completing a needed storage shed project (now named Pat’s Shed).
• -2017 named by the Select Board as Harvard’s Citizen of Note
• -2026 named Grand Marshall by the 4th of July Committee – she was there in spirit!

Pat’s family was her top priority. She was an exuberant and inspiring leader – her home world was Harvard, but her reach was long. She never tired of traveling. Learning and planning events both large and small, making friends wherever she landed.

She leaves her daughters Lynn Jennings and partner David Silk of Portland Maine, Della Jennings and partner Craig Kilmer of Harvard, granddaughters Patrice Antonia Jennings of Washington DC and Meaghan Jennings Mitchell of Harvard, sisters (in law) Dr. Sue Jennings and wife Diane Mazur of Ashland Oregon, Marian Brusberg of Simsbury CT, niece Elaine Jennings Sabatino and husband Scott, nephew George Jennings and wife Veronica and their children Andrew, Nathan, Luke, Tim and Grace as well as many many adoring friends.

Services welcoming all will be held at 10:00 am on Saturday, July 25, 2026, at the Congregational Church of Harvard. A Celebration of Life will follow immediately after at 11 Fairbanks Street in Harvard.

Arrangements under the care of the Badger Funeral Home, 347 King St., Littleton, MA. 978-486-3709, www.badgerfuneral.com.