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Longtime Resident Passionate About Life

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By DEREK MAUL

Tribune correspondent

Published: November 5, 2008

The elegant spires atop the University of Tampa were what drew Pat Kelly Waytovich to the Tampa area. The Brandon community is what keeps her engaged here, and she has been making a difference in one way or another since 1960.

She said her mother was enchanted by the UT minarets.

"My father, Leroy Kelly, was an artist; he visited Tampa to paint at the beach," she said. "Well, my mother liked the minarets at the University of Tampa, so I was to go to college there. I studied English, social studies and education."

Born in Marietta, Ga., "on the kitchen table," Waytovich had a challenging childhood.

"My mother, Edith, was a concert pianist," she said. "She was very severe. When I was 10, I taught Sunday school; then when I was 11 I taught sixth grade in the school system because they couldn't find a teacher. But it seems like faith has always been there. It preserved me as a child."

She attended West Georgia College, now the University of West Georgia, and was invited to address the Georgia state legislature at 18. The move to Tampa came in 1955.

"I was on the University of Tampa tennis team," she said. "Nick Waytovich was a former UT football player, all-American, quite the celebrity. He was on campus to check out the women, and he kept yelling 'Look at those beautiful legs.' I came over to hit him with my tennis racket."

They were married the following year.

"After I graduated, we lived in Chicago," she said. "I was junior editor for the Encyclopedia Britannica yearbook, 1957."

In 1960, the couple returned to Florida and settled in Brandon, where Nick Waytovich was math teacher and coach at Horace Mann Junior High School until his death in 1994.

She was a teacher, too.

"I started out at Adams Junior High, then King High School," she said, "then stayed home until the children went to kindergarten."

In 1968, she earned her master's degree in reading education and psychology from the University of South Florida. She worked at Thonotosassa Elementary in psychological testing.

An opportunity changed her life. She was asked to be part of a federal initiative to help facilitate integration. "I studied linguistics at the University of Miami to understand and prepare for better communication," she said.

"I lived with a prostitute for two weeks," she said. "She was a strong Christian in her church, and it gave me a whole different view of people and of the world. I gained a great understanding and respect for the black community."

Waytovich returned to Hillsborough County as assistant principal at Dowdell Junior High, then moved to McLane Junior High as assistant principal for administration.

"I liked being an AP because I could have an impact with kids," she said. "Then, in 1996, I was walking with God and he said 'Go study.' Two weeks later, I attended a prayer retreat and met the president of Asbury Seminary in Kentucky."

She enrolled and graduated with master's degrees in mission and evangelism and Christian counseling.

"I wanted skills to work with people," she said. "God led me to work here in the local church."

Although most of her work has been through First United Methodist Church, she has been ecumenical in service, including leading Bible Study Fellowship at First Baptist Church of Brandon.

At First United, she helped organize several ministries and a visitation program.

"I like to help start things, then move on," she said.

One exception is Alpha, a 10-week program designed to teach the fundamentals of faith and encourage people to move from pew-warmers to active disciples.

"I started it here seven years ago," she said. "The current group has 20 people, and probably 160 have gone through. We start and end with a celebration dinner. Everyone can learn something - I love it."

She has good reason for her positive outlook.

"Why do I have to be optimistic or not optimistic? God is in charge. My life is beautiful because I know Jesus. He's on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can buy the biggest car and all the possessions you can get, and just a few minutes with God will take the place of all that.

"God has done so much in my life."

MEET PAT KELLY WAYTOVICH

Lay leader, First United Methodist Church Brandon

BORN: Marietta, Ga., 1935

EDUCATION: West Georgia College, now the University of West Georgia, Carollton, Ga.; University of Tampa; University of South Florida; Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Ky.

MARRIED: Nick Waytovich, 1956

CHILDREN: Mike, 46; David, 45

MOVED TO BRANDON: 1960

MEMBER: First United Methodist Church Brandon

Derek Maul can be reached at derekmaul@gmail.com.

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