Father, grandfather, husband, lawyer, and so much more. Duffy was larger than life and too big for any one label or any one person. Each person who was lucky enough to share his life knew that Pat belonged to so many, many others too. Now he belongs to the ages. Patrick Kevin Duffy was born to Bernard and Margaret (Crowley) Duffy on September 29, 1956, in Pierre, SD. Until age five, he lived with
his parents and grandfather at the Duffy Boarding House. The family quickly expanded as brothers Bernard and Daniel were born. His father was a teacher, coach and school administrator at Fort Pierre High School. The family later moved to a home near the Stanley County Fairgrounds where two sisters, Elizabeth (Dolly) and Catherine (Kitty), were born. A boisterous, ever-curious boy, Pat roamed Fort Pierre freely. He cheated death many times, the first at age seven, when he fell into the Bad River in Fort Pierre and nearly drowned, only to be dragged from death's clutches by the opportune appearance of Larry Hunt and Mr. Bergesen, who jumped into the water and saved young Pat. In 1967, the family relocated to Vermillion, SD. For the next three years, Patrick lived in the midst of 1960s college life while his father attended law school. He liked to say of this time in his life that he had 600 older brothers. In Vermillion, Patrick delivered newspapers in the dorms, shined shoes and generally had the run of the USD campus. It was a life-changing time for him. In Vermillion Pat was a proud Julian Jewel (Pat's first youth basketball team, coached by his dad and named for Julian Hall where the family lived from 1968-70). Another brother, John, was born in Vermillion before the family moved back to Fort Pierre in 1970. Patrick attended high school at Stanley County High School and was active in cross country, track, oral interpretation, and especially basketball. He graduated in 1975. After graduation, Patrick worked for a short time before enlisting in the United States Navy, where he made some of the best lifelong friends he ever had. Pat was recruited to attend the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA, where he became a Russian linguist at the peak of the Cold War. He graduated first in his class from DLI and then went east where he was enrolled at the U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, RI, where (as everywhere) Pat distinguished himself. At Navy Prep he won the English scholar award as the outstanding humanities student. He also won the regimental boxing title at 165 pounds. His military experience imbued him with an infectious patriotism. Following his honorable discharge from the Navy, Patrick returned to South Dakota. In October 1978, he married his first love, Mary Garrigan in Highmore, SD, and enrolled at South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD. His first son, Padraic, was born in 1979, and a lifetime of rearing young men began. A second son, Conor, was welcomed in 1980. Patrick graduated from SDSU in 1982 and the family moved to North Dakota where Patrick worked as a stock broker for Edward D. There, a third son, Sean, was born in 1982 in Jamestown. Patrick also worked in the securities and bond markets in Dallas and Chicago. But the call of the law was always there. He took off a year of his life to stay home with his three small boys before enrolling in law school at USD in the fall of 1984. At law school, Pat met his life long friend and mentor, Mike Driscoll. He relished law school and immersed himself totally, distinguishing himself in academics and oratory. He was Editor in Chief of the USD Law Review his senior year. After graduation, he moved his family to Rapid City where he and Mary adopted a girl, Lisa, in 1995. Patrick joined the law firm of Bangs, McCullen, Butler, Foye & Simmons in Rapid City and began a life-long apprenticeship to the art of trying cases under the tutelage of another great mentor, Joe Butler. Thus began a long and illustrious career that would span decades. Twice more he cheated death during his Bangs McCullen years, surviving a car crash with Joe and a brain tumor in 1990. Pat left Bangs McCullen to begin his solo law practice in September of 1997. The fraternity of the law was to Pat every bit the crucible that the Navy had been and in the heat of many legal battles, he forged many lifelong friendships every bit as intense and tight-knit as he had in the Navy. This was his new brotherhood and he was fiercely proud of being a member of it. It was here, amidst this fellowship, that he created his life's work. He relished a good fight, but he was passionate about the underdog. He donated seven figures in free legal services to the causes of his life. He successfully fought to keep a large-scale garbage dump from being created at Edgemont and a large incinerator at Newell. His lifelong friend, Pete Larson, and he fought the law and (largely) won in the epic legal battle that started with the T-Rex named Sue and ended with fossils in Peru. He fought for the voting rights of Native Americans in some of the longest civil trials in South Dakota. And he was always the champion of the accused, trying many criminal cases including a death penalty case. He fought epic legal battles and grabbed banner headlines, but his work was always about fighting for justice every day for each and every client. The practice of law gave Patrick many gifts, but the greatest gift was the thunderbolt of love that struck Pat and Veronica (Aby) Bowen. They married in 2000 in Rapid City, SD. They were the lights of each others' lives, the center of each others' worlds. Others said Veronica was the only person who ever tamed him, but that wasn't wholly true. Veronica loved practicing law with Pat both at Bangs McCullen and later in their own firm of Duffy & Duffy. Veronica brought two wonderful boys, Connor and Jack, to their marriage and Patrick thought the world of them. Two more boys, Chase and Seamus, were born to their union and brought him even more joy. Patrick had young boys underfoot his entire adult life and he relished it. "He was a good daddy to his Klingons." His and Veronica's was a house of love, discipline, reading, excellence and chaotic hospitality. All seven of his sons were his pride and joy and he believed in them completely. Patrick was a member of the State Bar of South Dakota, the South Dakota Trial Lawyers Association, and the St. Isaac Jogues Parish Council. He was named the 2006 South Dakota Trial Lawyer of the Year. Sadly surviving Patrick are many, many, who will always feel the loss of one so larger than life: his wife, Veronica; seven sons and one daughter, Padraic (Caitlin), Conor (Tina), Sean (Emma), Connor, Jack, Chase, Seamus, and Lisa; his parents, Bernard and Peggy; three brothers, Bernie (Joan), Dan (Karrie) and John (Patti); two sisters Dolly (Dan) and Kitty (Rob); 10 grandchildren; his-in-laws William and Frances Aby; 24 nephews and nieces as well as numerous cousins, relatives and friends. Patrick's life will be celebrated with a with visitation starting at 4:00pm, CDT and rosary service on Friday, May 15, at 7 pm CDT at St. John's Catholic Church in Fort Pierre to be followed by a wake. His funeral mass will be held in Parkview Gymnasium in Fort Pierre at 1 pm CDT on Saturday, May 16.
