Patricia Sanders

Beloved wife, mother, and teacher Patricia Beazley Sanders died at home on Saturday, June 3rd due to complications of multiple myeloma. Trish was born to Ben and Pat Beazley in Chicago in 1953; the family moved to Toledo in 1963, and she attended Gesu School and Notre Dame Academy. She received a degree in Theatre and English from the University of Toledo, and a Master’s in English from BGSU.

The bulk of her career was spent at Notre Dame Academy, where she taught English, speech, and theater. She served for years as chair of the fine arts department and was certified to teach theater as part of the International Baccalaureate program. Her career there began in the late 1970’s; it resumed after a 10-year break at home with her three children, which ended when they all reached full-time school. During this time, the family moved to Whitehouse, to a house in the woods that became a summer home for many of her children’s friends.

In every home and setting Trish was a gardener and a cultivator of beauty for herself and others. In Whitehouse, shade gardens thrived, and she fought for years to carve out a full sun patch from the wilderness that would seek to reclaim her great spot every year. Between these efforts there were pond games, long chats on corded phones, and bringing multiple great dogs into the fold. Five years ago, after moving to a house with better sun, she transformed her yard into a whimsical, overstuffed garden that brought great joy to her, her visitors, and to the two mallards that routinely visit the garden’s pond.

After returning to NDA in the early 1990’s, she soon took over the speech team, earning the first of dozens of national qualifiers a few years later. The team grew from one that traveled in a minivan to one that needed multiple buses. Her teams won many district titles and included state and national finalists, state champions, and one national championship duo. She also served on the district committee and as chair of the state league. In 2010 she was inducted into the Ohio Speech and Debate Association Coaches Hall of Fame.

Trish began directing the musical at Notre Dame in 2002 and also directed NDA’s plays. Her musicals were well-known for featuring a “cast of thousands.” The NDA stage had done double-duty as a gymnasium for years, and Trish was grateful that its cavernous size would accommodate a large chorus, so that she could give as many students as possible the experience of live performance. She was relentless in finding opportunities to highlight her students’ work; one student reported that she was credited in a cast as “the creak,” because she worked offstage to make a creaking noise on cue.

Trish knew that the work backstage was just as important as that onstage, and she was proud to give many students their first experiences in sound, lighting, carpentry, direction, and other areas of stagecraft. She worked very closely for years with a great team, including particularly Producer Jean Walker, Vocal Director Amy Johns, Choreographer Karen Niewiadomski, and Set Designer Denise Coyle. Her husband, Dick Sanders, worked on many of the sets–sometimes even willingly–bringing her vision to life and teaching teenage girls how to use power tools. She was also grateful for the NDA Arts Parents Club, who do yeoman's work on costumes, organization, and feeding the masses of the cast on the musical and many other endeavors.

Her biggest gifts to her students and any who met her were her laughter and her love. Her laughter was legendary, and students used it to identify where she was sitting in the theater. They listened for it in the shows at NDA, and they always knew when she came to see them at another venue (Trish tried always to attend the shows of her current and former students). But her love was perhaps even more legendary. Dozens of students reported that her classroom, the backstage “green room,” was a place where they would find love, acceptance, and the courage to find themselves. Trish accepted them for who they were, but also saw what they could be and tried to help them achieve it.

So many people told us that they never heard Trish say an unkind word, but that is because they never played cards or discussed politics with her. She loved to play Pinochle, Canasta, Shanghai Rummy, Oh Hell, and in recent years, Settlers of Catan, including much online play during the pandemic and from hospital rooms in recent weeks. Her daughter used to call Canasta the “the bad word game,” because it was the only time profanity would float through the house at an opponent’s thwarting play. Of course, the laughter flowed as fast as the insults, and she taught her children and her nieces and nephews how to combine love and fierce competition around the gaming table.

While her most colorful language was reserved for the gaming table, she often had choice phrases for elected leaders who did not follow her example. She was a member and leader of a politically active family seeking to create a government and a world led by inclusion, kindness, and love.

Trish is survived by her loving husband, Dick Sanders, her daughters Bethany and Laura (David Lewis), her daughter-in-law Allison Leininger, and her granddaughter, Juniper Sanders. She is also survived by her father, Ben Beazley, siblings Mike (Juliann) and Mary Beth (David Pillion) and sisters-in-law Barb Krause (Fred LaPlante) and Susan Sanders, as well as a dozen or more nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her son, Benjamin Sanders, her brother, Johnny Beazley, and her mother, Pat Beazley.

The family wishes to thank the many friends, extended family, and neighbors who provided such critical support over the last year. Those who wish to make contributions in Trish’s name can consider the NDA Arts Parents Club—bit.ly/TrishSandersDonation.

Visitation will be held at Walker Funeral Home, 5155 W Sylvania Ave, Toledo, OH 43623 on Friday, June 9, from 3:00 pm-7:00 pm. A Celebration of Life will be held at Notre Dame Academy’s Performing Arts Center at 3535 W. Sylvania Ave., at 10:30 am on Saturday, June 10th. Interment will be private.