Patrick Healey – 50th Reunion Essay

Patrick Healey

56 Waterside Lane

Clinton, CT 6413

healeyp1947@gmail.com

860-304-5290

Spouse(s): Margaret M. Healey (1972)

Child(ren): Kristin (1974), James (1977), Kathryn (1981)

Grandchild(ren): Patrick R. Healey (2009), Molly Davis (2010), Kellan Healey (2011), Wade Davis (2012), Bevan Healey (2013)

Education: Harvard Business School, MBA, 1974

National Service: US Army ’69–’72

College: Silliman

At graduation I was commissioned an infantry officer in the army. Then I went to Fort Benning for officer basic and on to airborne school. Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane reminded me of the Keystone Cops doing something totally stupid! Then I went to Germany for 19 months in an infantry battalion and division headquarters. After that I went to Vietnam and served with the 1st Cavalry Division as the intelligence officer of one of its infantry battalions. It was a good job with some excellent people. I may have been the last Yalie to serve in Vietnam, almost certainly the last in a combat unit.

The best thing that occurred while I was in the army was meeting my wife, Margaret—a teacher from Minnesota—in Germany just as I was leaving for Vietnam. We were engaged in nine days and married a year later after my discharge from the army. We have three children: Kristin, born in 1974, James, in 1977, and Kathryn, in 1981. They have given us five great grandchildren: one girl and four boys, ages 6 to 10. For the last 40-plus years we have lived in the Madison / Clinton, Connecticut, area about 25 miles east of New Haven.

I entered Harvard Business School in the fall of 1972 along with many other Yale classmates and graduated in 1974. I decided to pursue a career in manufacturing operations. My love of building things came through. This career was certainly not the most lucrative that I could have chosen, but I found it challenging and rewarding.

The major business area that I worked in was the independent automotive repair parts business. My most rewarding post was president of a small trade association from 2002 to 2017. I continue in that business but now as a consultant for one of the major players in the industry. I consult on product line management defining what the automakers do for parts.

My hobbies include reading, particularly Civil War and WWII military history; golf, now a 14 handicap; and woodworking in my basement shop making furniture, trying to be a fine woodworker and sometimes coming close.

Since my wife and I are fortunate to have excellent health, we have been traveling about twice a year on major trips. It is certainly true that good health is a huge part of life. I did have a full hip replacement in November 2017. That caused my golf handicap to go up three strokes. However, I now feel great.