Few of you knew Pat. However, you should know how thankful we all should be to have had her a part of us.
November 1970, she being an admirer of the Lippitt family of the Morgan, decided to find a way to get owners of Lippitt Morgans off their duffs and to get their horses out before the public’s eye.
At the time, she was working for Harrison Miles, a long time breeder of Lippitt Morgans. Together, they went to visit with the following people, to get their help and ideas on how to accomplish her goal: Harriet Hilts, Mary Turgeon, Joyce Searles, Herbert and Maryrose Smith, Dana Kelley, Nancy Plimpton and Lester Welch.
Pat took the many ideas and suggestions from those people and held many meetings, adding other people along the way. It was decided to hold an exhibit with a commentator. It was also decided to try to hold it at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds in Tunbridge, Vermont. When the fair grounds committee was approached, they were delighted, and invited the group to hold their exhibit during the celebration of the Fair’s 100th anniversary.
September 16, 1971, an exhibit was held with Marilyn Childs as the Commentator. Everything went so well and everyone enjoyed themselves so much that it was decided to hold another one the next year, but it ended up that it was 1973 before the second one was held.
Meanwhile, this same group of people became well aware of the importance of pulling together to preserve the Lippitt strain of the Morgan. Starting a club seemed to be the way to go, so in 1973, a formal club was started. Naming the club seemed to be the hardest part, but after much debating and then the suggestion of “THE LIPPITT CLUB” from Marshall, the club had a name and the start of its roots.
Pat died of cancer, June 16th, (1999) at her home in Canandaigua, NY. She had gotten away from horses as she pursued her dairying education. Before moving to NY, she was a long time resident of Westminster, VT, and had worked for the Vermont Dairy Herd Improvement Association and the Holstein Association. She also was for many years a riding instructor, taking much pleasure in her volunteer work with children at a local U.S. Pony Club.
I first heard of her passing during the Lippitt Country Show, and then had it announced. I, for one, was very saddened by the news. I knew Pat since she was a horse-crazy teenager. If it had not been for Pat’s concern for the Lippitt’s wellbeing, who knows if or when a club would have been started, to preserve the genetic purity of the Lippitt Morgan.
Without the start of this Club, there now would be less Lippitt Morgans and many of the horses that now do exist, would not be! Think about it! Think of what we would not have today, if it hadn’t been for the concern of a young woman, 29 years ago, added to the concerns of those before her. How fortunate we are for the likes of the Pat McClarys over the years.
Fondly Submitted by Nancy C. Plimpton.
