Joy and warmth: Remembering Pat Rizzo

Palm Coast Observer
Your Town

by: James Manfre

There are people in your life who push you to be better by their sheer force of personality. Pat Rizzo was one of those people.

She died Jan. 30, and we, the community, lost a true friend and mother figure.

For almost eight years, I had a front row seat to see her ability to spread joy and warmth as she worked as my executive assistant during my two terms as sheriff. She handled calls from governors, senators, congressmen, commissioners, elected officials, employees and constituents with grace and humor. She was always planning birthday and Christmas parties or giving out sympathy or birthday cards to employees.

She somehow kept track of my calendar and tried mightily to keep me on schedule. She greeted me every morning with a smile or a frown if I was late and left each day with a goodbye and as much enthusiasm as she started the day. She was often accompanied by her best friend and husband, Joe, who would bounce into my office and offer his assessment of my job performance on an almost daily basis. To go to lunch with them was an exercise in community involvement as they seemed to know a good portion of the community by name and some experience.

The Rizzos were one of the foundational families in Palm Coast along with the Chimentos, the Gibbses and the Hollands and others who came to the area to start new lives in the developing community. Their son, Joseph, is now the executive director of the Flagler County Education Foundation, and their daughter Christa is a successful life coach and author. Their children and grandchildren were the essential part of their lives and included in their everyday conversations.

It was their past lives that prepared Pat so well for her position as my executive assistant (or, as I chided her, for her true title of executive sheriff). Joe, her husband, was an NYPD police officer shot and disabled in the line of duty chasing a robbery suspect in Manhattan. There is no more difficult job than as a spouse of a law enforcement officer or someone serving in the military. Pat's experience with Joe as that spouse waiting to have your loved one walk in the door each day made her sympathetic to the deputies employed in the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office.

She took a keen interest in their lives, their struggles and their happiness. They flocked to her desk for a brief chat or to unload their day’s travails. It is one of my most enduring memories of Pat huddling with one of the employees intent on soothing their momentary misery or sharing in their joys.

Pat remained always a true friend to all who knew her and a comfort and joy that only a mother can express. She is now with her beloved Joe whom she lost several years ago. I’m sure she is looking down from heaven and with a big smile urging us to be the best we can each day.