Patrick Michael Dolan
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Big Pat”
30 August 1951 — 22 March 2023 · aged 71
Chicago Fire Department lieutenant, South Side Irishman and the block's fix-it man
Chicago, United States Born in Back of the Yards, Chicago, Illinois Resting at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Worth, IllinoisAbout Patrick
“Check the back door first,” Pat Dolan told every rookie who ever rode a rig with him, and he meant it about fires, houses and life in general. There is always a way out, he said, and a decent man makes sure everyone else is through it before he is.
Pat was born in the Back of the Yards in 1951, the fourth of six children of a meatpacker from County Mayo and a hospital cook from County Clare. He graduated from Brother Rice High School in 1969, spent four years swinging a hammer on construction sites while swearing he would never be a fireman, and took the Fire Department test anyway. He joined the Chicago Fire Department in 1973 and spent thirty-five years in Southwest Side firehouses, retiring as a lieutenant in 2008. He was on duty during the Loop flood of 1992, pumping out basements for three days on bad coffee and ham sandwiches, and the sandwiches got bigger with every retelling.
Off duty he was the man every block needs. He fixed neighbors' furnaces, shoveled half of Longwood Drive after every blizzard, and coached girls' softball in Beverly for twenty-two seasons, where his entire strategy was the word “hustle.” He marched in the South Side Irish Parade for fifty years playing a tin whistle badly and with total commitment. He was a White Sox man to the bone, and he watched the 2005 World Series from the same tavern stool on Western Avenue where he had watched every disappointment before it.
He married Maureen Cullinane in 1976, and they were together for forty-seven years. Pat died at home in Beverly on 22 March 2023, after a long illness, with Maureen beside him and a spring-training game murmuring on the radio.
He is survived by Maureen; his children Kathleen, Sean and Colleen; seven grandchildren who called him Papa Pat; and his brother Tom. The department will sound a last alarm in his honor, and a great many people will check their back doors tonight.
“Check the back door first. There's always a back door.”
- Faith
- Catholic
- Place of birth
- Back of the Yards, Chicago, Illinois
- Resting place
- Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Worth, Illinois
- Passed away
- 22 March 2023, Chicago
Funeral Mass with Fire Department honors
Monday, 27 March 2023 at 12:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Dolan family fund & burn survivors' camp
Help the Dolan family with final expenses; any surplus will send young burn survivors to summer camp, a cause Pat quietly supported for decades.
$4,545.75 raised of $5,000
91%20 recent contributions
- KP
Kamla Pillay gave $237.50 · 3y ago
- PV
Prof. Marta Isabel Vargas gave $47.50 · 3y ago
“A small token of love.”
- AN
Anonymous gave $47.50 · 3y ago
“From your old classmates.”
- PW
Putri Wulandari gave $23.75 · 3y ago
“For the children's school fees.”
- HK
Harjit Kaur gave $47.50 · 3y ago
“A small token of love.”
Life journey
High School Diploma
Brother Rice High School1965 – 1969 · Chicago
Played right tackle and learned that the loudest voice in the huddle is rarely the one in charge.
Firefighter
Chicago Fire Department1973 – 1988 · Chicago
Rode Southwest Side engine and truck companies through fifteen long winters.
Married Maureen Cullinane
1976 · Chicago
Forty-seven years, three children and one very patient dog.
Department Commendation for Rescue
Chicago Fire Department1987 · Chicago
For carrying two children out of a burning three-flat on the Southwest Side.
Lieutenant
Chicago Fire Department1988 – 2008 · Chicago
Led his company with a short temper, a long memory and an open back door.
Girls' Softball Coach
Beverly Girls' Softball League1989 – 2011 · Chicago
Twenty-two seasons, one rule: hustle.
Tap an organisation to find others who studied or worked there.
Family & connections
Patrick is survived by
- Maureen Dolan· Spouse
- Kathleen Dolan Reyes· Daughter
- Sean Dolan· Son
- Colleen Dolan· Daughter
- Thomas Dolan· Brother
- 7 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Patrick.
Knew Patrick? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- MH
Tavern neighbor and fellow Sox fan
Pat and I sat on adjacent stools for thirty years and I never saw him leave before the last out, even in the years the Sox gave us every reason to. In October 2005 he cried like a baby and bought the whole bar a round. Rest easy, big man. Hustle.
- DD
Cousin, Ballina, County Mayo
Pat visited Mayo in 2009 and insisted on walking the old home place in the rain. He stood where our grandfather's cottage used to be, took off his cap and said nothing for ten minutes. Then he asked where the nearest pub was. Chicago's loss, and ours.
- RM
Shortstop on his softball team
Coach Pat taught eight-year-old me to field grounders by rolling them at my shins. “The ball is not your enemy,” he said. “It's your job.” I became an ER nurse. I think about that sentence every single shift.
- PB
Neighbor on Longwood Drive
The big blizzard buried our whole block. By seven that morning Pat had dug out my driveway, the Hendersons' and half the street before his own. When I tried to pay him he handed me a thermos of coffee and said we were square.
- FO
Pastor, St. Barnabas parish
Pat never missed the 7:30 Mass, never sat near the front, and never let a parishioner leave the church hall without a plate of something. He believed grace was mostly logistics. He was usually right.
- TK
Firefighter, partner on the same rig for fifteen years
Fifteen years on one rig and Pat never let me through a door before he had checked the way out. He taught me to read a roof, a ceiling and a man's face. Then he'd buy lunch and complain about the price. I will check my back door every shift for the rest of my life.
