Patty McGillin
She’s keeping a promise to kids
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It’s easy to figure out how long Coralville resident Patty McGillin has been involved with various activities: It started 24 years ago. When her son, Luke, was born, McGillin made a promise with herself.
“I said, ‘If this child is well and healthy, I’ll spend some time with children who are not,’” she said.
McGillin was a member of the first volunteer committee for the University Hospitals Children’s Miracle Network. She helped start the annual Dance Marathon at the University of Iowa.
When her son was just a few weeks old, she started the wheels on something else.
“All these people would come to Coralville for the (Fourth of July) parade and go home,” she said. “And I thought, ‘Gosh, we have all these people here, and we can’t entertain them.’”
So, a few years later with the help of the city, 4th Fest started. McGillin was the first chairwoman of the event and did it for 15 years but recently stepped down.
“It was difficult to step down,” she said. “It’s very rewarding. It’s kind of like having a party for 20,000 of your closest friends. What started out as a couple of hours on a summer day turned into a few days in the park. 4th Fest is what Coralville is all about.”
McGillin said volunteering was a way to spend time with her son. When he was in school, so was she, essentially, through volunteering with the PTO, book carnivals and show choir. She also was on the RAGBRAI Hospitality Committee last summer and helps with the area’s annual Race for the Schools.
“Since I was born and raised in the area, I know a lot of people,” she said. “I’m not shy. I’m not on the A-list, though. I’m on the list of people you call if you need some volunteers.”
And she’s not kidding, either. When the flood of 1993 hit the area, McGillin and her son were in the parking lot of the Coralville city pool, filling sandbags.
It all goes back to what her parents taught her and her five brothers and sisters, she said. Growing up in Cosgrove, her parents were active in church, the Democratic Party and even chaperoned the school prom when their kids were all too young to attend.
“We didn’t have a lot of money,” she said. “And when something was going on, my mom said, ‘We can’t write a big check, but we can give our time.’”
— Kathryn Fiegen
