Longtime teacher was supporter of the arts

Patti Cartlidge Pete, 75, a teacher whose career at area schools spanned nearly four decades, died Monday in her West Toledo home.

Tracie Jafferies, a niece, said the cause of death was unknown but likely due to complications from a stroke she had in September.

Most of Mrs. Pete's teaching career was devoted to special education students. She taught for 12 years at Whitmer High School and then went on to teach special education students in Maumee Schools, where she retired in 2005.

According to Ms. Jafferies, special education was not her aunt's first career choice. She started college with the intention of teaching physical education.

"Actually she wanted to become a gym teacher. She realized that she didn't like to run. She didn't like to exercise," she said.

She was born on Aug. 16, 1936, to Betty and Floyd Cartlidge, who was a longtime Toledo police detective and bodyguard of numerous celebrities. She grew up in West Toledo and graduated in 1954 from DeVilbiss High School.

She attended Eastern Michigan University, Mary Manse College, and the University of Toledo, where she obtained her bachelor's degree in special education, her niece said.

Mrs. Pete taught at the nursery school at the Jewish Community Center on Collingwood Boulevard and held a special needs position with Lucas County Children Services at the Miami Children's Center in Maumee.

Ms. Jafferies said her aunt taught at Whitmer's occupational work program, where students took half-day classes and worked at jobs. She said her aunt told her about students in the program who failed to show up for school and she went looking for them.

"She told them if they didn't show up for class the next day she was going to report them to the police," Ms. Jafferies said. "She was the type of person who cared about her kids."

She was the widow of Lee Pete, who was a star Libbey High School and University of Toledo quarterback. Mr. Pete had lived for many years in Las Vegas, where he had sports talk radio and cable programs. They had been friends for many decades when she invited him back to Toledo in 2005 after his wife died.

She became his caregiver, and they were married Sept. 8, 2007. He died March 25, 2010.

Ms. Jafferies said her parents introduced her aunt to Mr. Pete about 50 years ago at one of the Toledo restaurants he owned before he moved to Las Vegas in 1970.

Mrs. Pete was a supporter of the city's cultural and community institutions. She had season tickets to the opera, symphony, and was a regular visitor to the Toledo Zoo and the city's Art Museum.

"She was a supporter of anything that had to do with the arts," her niece said.

Mrs. Pete had been an ordained spiritualist minister and belonged to the First Spiritualist Church on Western Avenue.

An ardent supporter of UT athletic teams, she attended the school's football games and Lady Rockets basketball contests. Ms. Jafferies said she was the first woman inducted into the UT Varsity Club.

For decades she was a member of the Ladies Oriental Shrine of North America and the Palestine chapter of the Order of Eastern Stars.

There are no immediate survivors.

Visitation will be held from 2 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and after 2 p.m. Thursday in the Ansberg-West Funeral Home, 3000 W. Sylvania Ave., where Dendara Court services will be held at 7 p.m. and will be immediately followed by a memorial service.

The family requests tributes to Shriner's Children Hospitals.