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What’s Love Got To Do With It? Everything!!!
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
Patricia Hogue, PhD –
totally shocked when she was suddenly and unexpectedly
greeted and surrounded by almost 100 friends, colleagues and
students at a gathering in her honor on Saturday, December 9
– took quite a few minutes to grasp the reality of the
situation and to calm down from the impact of the surprise
and the outpouring of love. Earlier, at around 3:00 p.m., a
number of Hogue’s friends had surreptitiously come together
at the Kent Branch Library and Hogue’s husband, Ron Hogue –
in on the surprise and using a ruse – had craftily guided
her to the location for the celebration without giving away
the secret.
There to celebrate her
life and her countless gifts to so many parts of the
community were University of Toledo colleagues and students;
the Toledo Chapter of Links, Inc and Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc.
members; Friendship Baptist Church congregants, along with
an assortment of longtime friends. The tribute was
coordinated by Deborah Barnett, Rhonda Sewell, Pat Sloan and
Kaye Patten Wallace, along with Ron Hogue, but it was, in
fact, an effort of an entire community.
After her arrival and the
many initial greetings, Hogue was treated to brief addresses
from friends representing the many organizations Hogue has
been associated with – The Links, AKA, Friendship, UT, among
others. “You know how spiritual Dr. Hogue is,” said Barnett,
a fellow Links sister and the mistress of ceremonies for the
event. “She has impacted each and every one of our lives.”
Addressing Hogue, Barnett
added: “All of your best friends have come together. The
community that loves you put this on. Our community needs
heroes and sheroes whom we need to celebrate – that’s what
we are doing this afternoon.”
Hogue, a longtime UT
employee is an associate dean of Diversity and Inclusion and
associate professor in the Physicians Assistants Department.
A native of Norristown, PA, Hogue has been in Toledo for
almost 30 years and, in fact, started the university’s PA
program in 1993. Over the years in Toledo and with the
university, Hogue has been fully engaged in such a wide
range of activities. As this paper wrote almost 10 years
ago:
“She teaches, she
counsels, she sees patients, she serves as a faculty advisor
to the on-campus chapter of the Student National Medical
Association (the group that helps those members of
underrepresented minorities), she publishes, she researches
women’s health, minority health and geriatric issues, she
holds licenses as a registered nurse and a board-certified
physician’s assistance. ‘I’m a pack mule,’ she says. ‘I just
do it all.’”
In addition to her work
with The Links, AKA and Friendship, Hogue has also served on
the boards of the Northwest Ohio Planned Parenthood, the
Ohio Association of Physicians Assistants and te YWCA of
Greater Toledo
“You bring so much joy
into our lives,” said Felicia Dunston, president of AKA, at
Saturday’s ceremony, leading off the tributes, and summing
up the theme that the rest of the speakers would repeat over
and over again.
Then followed an
assortment of praises for the guest of honor by so many
others in the audience.
After the speeches, guests
were able to feast on an assortment of goodies brought in
for the love-fest. |
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