James Patrick McAndrews

James Patrick “Pat” McAndrews passed away May 16, 2023 after a long and fulfilling life. He was born in Adams, Massachusetts on April 8, 1928, the son of Bartholomew and Mary Jane (Ryan) McAndrews. He grew up on Columbia Street in Adams and enjoyed the company of his large extended Irish Catholic family throughout his life.

After graduating from Adams High School in 1946 he was accepted into the General Electric Draftsman Apprenticeship program in Pittsfield MA. While working at GE he met his future wife – Alice “Shine” Clara Calnan to whom he was married for over 51 years until her death in 2002.

A day after he proposed to Shine, the Korean War started and he was soon drafted. They were married on October 14, 1950 before his deployment. At Fort Dix he was selected for Officers Candidate School, trained in Kansas, was commissioned an officer and was sent to Korea. First Lieutenant McAndrews served 3 years in the Army Corp of Engineers and was honorably discharged after the Korean Armistice.

A life-long learner, he used his GI education benefits to enroll at Boston University in 1953. He graduated in only two years and was selected to join the BU Phi Beta Kappa society. While living in Boston and attending BU he somehow arranged a meeting with the Dean of Harvard Law. At that meeting and after reviewing Pat’s credentials the Dean offered him, on the spot, a slot in the next year’s class and granted him a scholarship. While at Harvard he worked full time in the government classified MIT Engineering department and then at John Hancock as a law clerk. While still in law school he and Shine started their family which eventually grew to seven children whom they cherished most of all.

After graduation from Harvard Law School in 1958, his began his career as a patent attorney first at a Boston Law firm, then with American Optical in Southbridge, MA for several years. In 1967 he moved to Attleboro, MA and worked at Texas Instruments as Patent Counsel for the next 25 years.

Pat and Shine valued learning and new experiences, and enjoyed many fantastic road trips and adventures, including taking their entire family (and an Aunt for good measure) on a multi-month vacation touring National Parks across the USA in the Summer of 1973.

Pat was active in many golf and bowling leagues throughout his life, was an avid family card player, and was known for his acerbic wit and his vast vocabulary. He was very charitable with his time to family, friends, coworkers and his church. He was an active member of the St. Vincent De Paul Society at Holy Ghost Parish for many years and was a regular attendee of Catholic services most of his life.

After retiring, Pat enjoyed golfing, traveling, visiting family, and doing difficult crossword puzzles in pen. He was a voracious reader, often taking on very long and scholarly tomes in addition to his favorite mystery stories. In retirement he actively traced his family genealogy and dabbled in learning Gaelic. In his later years, he shared many stories from his long life, and was especially fond of reminiscing about his childhood in his beloved hometown of Adams, from which he moved in the 1950’s but which always held a very big place in his heart.

He was predeceased by his wife Alice, siblings and in laws: Rita McAndrews, Bartholomew and Frances McAndrews, John and Kathleen McAndrews, Anne (McAndrews) and Chester Ciuk, Charles Pansecchi, Richard and Carolyn Calnan, Frances and Norman Robert, and Eileen and Donald McShane.

He is survived by a sister Mary Jane Pansecchi of Adams MA and his children, Bartholomew and Becky McAndrews of Houston TX, James Jr. and Donna McAndrews of Attleboro, Rita McAndrews Giblin and Dan Giblin of Jacksonville Beach, FL, Gerald and Erika McAndrews of Attleboro, Raymond and Melissa McAndrews of Waxahachie, TX, Matthew and Kathlene McAndrews of Bullard, TX, and Christine and Dwayne Bell of Maynard, MA. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Shannon and Chris Bennett, Kathleen McAndrews and Katie Mahanke, Ryan McAndrews, Matthew McAndrews and Blair Usedom, Nicholas and Emily McAndrews, Kerstin and Kevin Tougas, Margaret and Matthew Bole, Patrick McAndrews, Benjamin McAndrews and Rebecca Tondreau, Allison McAndrews, Kevin and Yakaira Bell, and Richard Bell, as well as his five great grandchildren, Parker, Chase, and Bryce Bennett, Wilson McAndrews, and Aubree Bell. He also had many nieces, nephews, and cousins of all kinds, who were very important to this dedicated family man.

Pat’s family would like to thank the wonderful staffs of Dr. Stephen Stein, Dr. Kenneth Bishop, and Dr. Ronald Pigeon, the Infusion Center at Sturdy Memorial Hospital, and all his wonderful Visiting Angels, whose dedication and compassion allowed him to maintain his independence at home for so many years, as well as the caring staffs of Hope Home Health and Life Care of Attleboro.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend a visitation from 4-7 p.m. on Friday, May 19, 2023 at the Duffy-Poule Funeral Home, 20 Peck Street, Attleboro, MA.

An additional time of visitation will be held from 9:30 – 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 20, 2023 at the Holy Ghost Church, 71 Linden Street, Attleboro, MA immediately followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. at Holy Ghost Church (formerly St. Vincent de Paul).

A private burial will take place at a later date at the Massachusetts National Cemetery, Bourne, MA.

In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Pat may be made to American Heart Association www.heart.org or the Massachusetts Citizens For Life at www.masscitizensforlife.org