Patricia Mielcarek Wolfe

Patricia Mielcarek Wolfe, 74, of Scottsdale AZ passed away peacefully on November 10 at home in the loving arms of Joe, her husband of 50 years. Pat was born on July 22, 1946 in Lorain, Ohio to Joseph and Lillian Mielcarek and has a younger brother Michael Mielcarek. She graduated from Clearview High School, Lorain, Ohio in 1964 and St Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1965. Pat and Joe Wolfe were married in Lorain, May 2, 1970 and then moved to Arizona. She graduated as a registered nurse from Phoenix College in 1973 and loved taking care of patients in intensive care and cardiology. Pat retired from nursing in 1985 and started her own travel agency and led small group tours around the world. Pat’s greatest love was to travel. Her motto was a quote from St. Augustine: The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. A quote that was always at the end of her emails. She journeyed to 125 countries and all 7 continents, took 48 cruises on everything from riverboats, expedition ships, sailing craft to the big cruise ships. She sailed all the oceans, major rivers, the seas from the North Sea to Wendell Sea of Antarctica. Pat and her husband Joe enjoyed Wildlife from the Serengeti to tigers in India, chased lemurs in Madagascar, trekked after golden monkeys in Rwanda and Gorillas in Uganda. Pat loved to interact with the people, especially the children, and her beautiful smile could transcend any language and culture. Her interest in family roots took her to the town of Poznan, Poland to see the home where her grandfather lived, to the beaches of Normandy, where her father went ashore during the D Day operations, and to the immigrants’ wall in Washington DC to see her grandmother’s name. She loved to see and experience the many cultures and peoples of the world, touring castles, palaces and historic homes and learning about the people who lived there. Pat and Joe enjoyed the great museums of the world from the Louvre to the Hermitage and traveled to learn about the ancient cultures from Egypt to Easter Island. Pat shared her adventures with her many friends on Facebook and has friends throughout the world she kept in touch with. Her greatest joy was taking school supplies to children in underdeveloped countries. It was not always school supplies. For an orphanage in the Mekong Delta it was blankets, mosquito nets and tooth brushes/ tooth paste. It was food for a Buddhist orphanage in Myanmar. For an English teaching school in Sri Lanka it was a digital camera and projector. In Bali it was water filters and the list goes on to many more countries. Pat loved to speak to the children and tell them how proud she was of them for being in school and that by getting an education they could make their country better. Pat was a member of Shepard of the Desert Lutheran Church. She was a charter member and past president of the Rotary Club of Pinnacle Peak before joining Phoenix Rotary 100 in 2010. In 2018 Pat and her husband Joe were awarded the club’s Tim Credon award in recognition of service to the club and community. She enjoyed cooking and loved to host events at her home. Pat will be remembered for far more than can be listed here, such as her warm smile, generous spirit and beautiful dresses to name a few. She will be dearly missed. Donations can be made to the Patricia Wolfe Memorial Education Fund at Phoenix Rotary 100 Charities. Service will be held at a later due to Covid 19.