Fr. Patrick Joseph Gallagher C.S.B.

It is with great sadness that I write this note, even though uncle Pat loved his ministry he always made all of his nieces and nephews feel so very loved. He was always so proud of our accomplishments especially the boys sports. May all of his brother Priests know we are praying for your loss as well. Wish we could have come and celebrate his life with all. Love and prayers, Brent and Susan

I am sorry to hear about Father Gallagher. My thoughts and prayers are with you. Father Gallaher had a great influence on me in my teaching career. He was my mentor as I did my student teaching at St. Mary's High School, Calgary Alberta, in the mid 1980's. It was then that I took over his Chemistry classes for eight weeks, while he watched over and guided me with my lessons. As a new teacher, I was so nervous to take over. Father Gallagher had all the confidence in the world in my abilities. After every lesson, he wrote comments in my log book. Father was always constructive and encouraging in his notes and he always had very useful ideas on how I could add to my lessons. He made me feel like I could take on the world, even though I was shaking in my shoes. By the beginning of the second week, I was feeling quite confident in what I was doing. The following is one of my favourite moments I had with Father Gallagher. We both chuckled about this. I was teaching a Chemistry 30 lesson on acids/bases. Father always sat in the last seat on the far left hand side of the class. I frequently looked back at him to get his approval on things with his smile. During one of many moments, in this particular class, I looked back at him, to see how I was doing, and to my surprise he was taking a little cat nap! I remember giggling to myself thinking, either the class is really boring or he feels comfortable with what I was doing, and was just taking a little break. I continued a little longer, and when I looked back again, he looked at me with a smile of approval! I knew all was well with the lesson! I valued his opinions and advice and became a better teacher and person because of him. I still have my log books from way back then, and I plan to open them up and read the entries he wrote. They were very encouraging and always made me feel good. That was the kind of person he was...always knowing what to say and do...always willing to lend a helping hand...always an inspiration! I know he will be missed by his co-workers from the St. Mary's years, family and friends, and by me. God bless.

We will miss our dear friend - Father Pat. We worked with Fr Pat doing Engaged Encounters in Calgary in the 1980s. We will always remember Fr Pat in our hearts as great man who was gentle and kind. We know that he touched many young couples bring them back into the Catholic church.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you at this time with the loss of your dear Brother and our cherished cousin. His kind spirit and warm nature has always been an inspiration. All our love. The Madden's