The Early Years

Patricia Buckley was born on May 20th, 1933, in the Richmond Borough of New York City. She was the second of three children of an Irish American/Sicilian marriage. In grade school, young Patricia was perceived as a poor student, a circumstance probably attributable to dyslexia which is a generally misunderstood reading and perceptional "disorder". Nonetheless, one of her teachers determined that this little girl who was "Not Proficient In Anything" was artistically gifted. This outside opinion helped to convince Pat's mother to enroll her daughter in an extraordinary public school for girls in downtown Manhattan: the Washington Irving High School for the Fine Arts. It was there, in what obviously was a friendly learning environment, that Pat's artistic abilities were finally encouraged and seriously nourished.

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