On October 12, Pat Goldstein died in her home from complications of acute myeloid leukemia.

She had just turned 80. In 1946, she was born Patricia Ellen Hayes in Madison, Wisconsin, to her beloved mother, Marge, and father, Frank Hayes, a World War II veteran and manager for General Motors. She and her three brothers grew up in GM towns and cities throughout Wisconsin and Michigan.

In 1966, she returned to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin. There she met Andrew Goldstein. They were an unlikely pair — she a Catholic schoolgirl from the Midwest, he a Jewish kid from the Bronx. But when their eyes met across the student library, they both felt a spark. And from that grew a 60-year partnership and a shared life.

Their early jobs together included motel cleaning and orange tree farming on the West Coast. In the ’70s they made their way to Massachusetts, and Pat took a computer training course just before they became mainstream. She developed those skills into a successful career as an IT programmer and business analyst. On multiple occasions she was offered substantial promotions. Each time she declined so as not to sacrifice time with her family.

As a mother she was loving and steady, interested and ready for an adventure. She bequeathed to her two children, both Concord-Carlisle High School grads, a love of reading and the natural world. At age 70, she fully embraced retirement. With friends and family, she traveled the world, tended her community garden, volunteered at local non-profits, and, most of all, found deep and abiding joy in helping to raise her two grandsons in Concord.

She will be greatly missed by the community she leaves behind: her brothers and their wives, John and Alice Hayes (in Washington state) and Tom and Julie Hayes (Illinois); her husband Andrew Goldstein; son Max Goldstein (California); daughter Lucy Goldstein, son-in-law Derek Cobbe, and grandsons Aidan and Rory Cobbe (all of Concord); and a long list of nieces, nephews, and dear friends maintained over a lifetime.

Pat knew how to do life. She was a solid, hardworking, and joyful person who felt a profound sense of gratitude for the life she had and the people she loved.

The family will host a memorial in the spring.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Acre Family Childcare in Lowell.

Arrangements have been entrusted to Dee Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Concord.