'She was my mom, my best friend and my sister'

Even though she worked full-time and had three children, it wasn't unusual for Patricia Murphy Finnerty to stay up until 4 a.m. making perfect ladybug cupcakes for a special event.

"We used to tease her and call her Martha Stewart," joked her sister and best friend, Jennifer Murphy Cazares of Arlington Heights. "She was the one who always called and said, 'Come on! We have to get together!'"

People mourning Patricia Finnerty are remembering her big heart, her constant smile, her endless energy and a fun-loving personality.

Funeral services have been scheduled for Tuesday.

Patricia, or "Trish," grew up as the middle child of three girls in Arlington Heights' Surrey Ridge West neighborhood.

Childhood friend Cynthia Kane said Trish had a happy youth hanging out at Heritage Park and pool, at Girl Scouts, and going to "Just Games" on Palatine Road where she and her friends poured quarters into PacMan and Frogger video games.

"It was absolutely picture perfect, Norman Rockwell Americana," Kane said. "Trish was just a normal, shy girl who came into her own in high school."

Trish's mother died when she was a young girl, so she stepped up to help care of her younger sister, Jennifer.

"She jumped right in there and watched me like a hawk. She was just that kind of sister," said Jennifer, now guardian to Trish's daughter Bridgit and son, Pierce.

"She was my mom, my best friend and my sister."

At Rolling Meadows High School, classmate Sandi Svoboda said Trish was very involved in school and a member of Orchesis and choir.

The Murphys were friends with another family in the neighborhood, the Finnertys, and they spent summers at the Finnertys' vacation home in Twin Lakes, Wis.

A romance ultimately bloomed between Trish and one of the Finnerty children, Kevin.

Once married, the couple moved to a small home near their old neighborhood and began raising their three kids, Bridgit, Garrett and Pierce.

Friends and family describe Trish as a genuinely happy person who deeply loved her family and was very involved in her children's lives.

She even took them with her to laughing classes, which she thought were so fun.

"She would always take the time to help everybody," whether it was to find a phone number of someone for you or just listen to you," said friend Jenn Doner of Arlington Heights.

After earning degrees from St. Mary of the Woods and Concordia, Trish spent 15 years as a guidance counselor at Niles North High School in Skokie. She took a new job last fall as a college counselor at Libertyville High School.

Students and staff at Niles North say she was smart, funny and "really Irish."

Niles North Principal Robert Freeman said Finnerty's passion was helping students with academic difficulties make it to college anyway. She worked hard to get grants for first generation college students who otherwise couldn't afford it.

"Everybody loved and admired her. She was an integral part of our staff," Freeman said.

Of the staff at Libertyville High School, Ole Stevens was the closest to her.

Stevens hired Finnerty to replace him as the school's college and career counselor when he was named director of student services. She worked for him.

"I was a mentor to her in some ways, but she came here with a wealth of experience," he said. "She was extremely dedicated to her craft. She had a positive impact on so many of the students here."

Stevens said Finnerty had keen insight into the needs of students and their parents.

"She was phenomenal. Words can't say enough about the kind of person she was," Stevens said. "Trish really understood kids and families, and was so great at helping them make decisions about life after high school."

Finnerty combined a sense of humor, intense energy and professionalism in both her life and career. Finnerty's secretary, Marilyn McBride, said her boss was one of a kind.

"Trish was vibrant. She was always in motion, and more fun to work with than you can imagine," McBride said "She was such a force and really funny, too. There wasn't a day when we wouldn't all be laughing at some point, including the students."

McBride said Finnerty treated her as an equal, not an underling.

"She never put on airs or had an attitude," McBride said. "She was amazing to work with and to work for."

Nancy Dick was Finnerty's assistant. She said Finnerty loved her kids deeply.

"We knew them each by name and what they were up to," Dick said. "Trish would talk about them all the time."

With both their daughters in sixth grade at South Middle School in Arlington Heights, Sue Dungan often ran into Trish, her old high school friend, around town. They saw each recently at the grocery store.

"She seemed really happy with her life," Dungan said. "I remember thinking I wanted to bottle up some of her energy for myself."

She said Trish hadn't changed much since their days dancing together on the Orchesis team.

"She looked exactly the same and still had that outgoing, energetic personality," Dungan said.

• Daily Herald staff writers Chris Placek and Colleen Thomas contributed to this report.

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