Longtime West Islip resident and loving family matriarch Patricia Weiss Tuck died July 12, 2008. She was 75 and lived on Fire Island Avenue for about 40 years.

Born in Mineola, she lived in Bay Shore before moving to West Islip. During the late 1970s and 1980s she worked as a teacher's aide in Manetuck Elementary School in West Islip, and about 30 years ago had a regular column in the Beacon called "Window on West Islip."

For 25 years, she served as a volunteer coordinator for Friend In Service Helping (FISH) in Babylon, an organization that supports local families.

"She was really an ethusiastic and devoted worker and we'll miss her," said president of FISH Marylou Staples, who knew her for about 10 years.

Mrs. Tuck leaves behind her children, Andrew, Adam and Amy Richter and her husband Eric, all of West Islip and Arthur and his wife Donna in East Islip. Her grandchildren, Beau, Cole, A.J., Christian, Antonia and Philip also survive her as do many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Arthur K. and her sister Helen.

She reposed at the Lang-Tobia-DiPalma Funeral Home in West Islip, July 15 and 16, 2008. A Funeral Mass was said July 17, 2008 at Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. Church in West Islip. Interment followed in St. Joseph's Cemetery in North Babylon.