Patricia Lynn (D'Aquila) Loney

Patricia Lynn (D’Aquila) Loney, 78, of Harbor Springs, Michigan, passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, December 11, 2025. She was born in May of 1947, in Detroit, to Carl and Marie (McFalda) D’Aquila.

Pat experienced early hardship with the sudden death of her father at a young age, but even so had many happy stories to share of growing in Detroit and near Hammond Lake. She graduated from Mumford High School in 1965 and won a full academic scholarship to the University of Detroit. In 1967, her best friend, Fran Prescott, threw a party for the college ski club. Pat was only ever a passable skier, but at the party she would find the love of her life, Neil Loney, whom she wed on June 14, 1968, at Gesu Catholic Church in Detroit. Shortly before the birth of their first child, Elizabeth, they moved to Ann Arbor. As they began a family, Pat stepped away from college for a time but would later complete her education and obtain a B.S. in Chemistry from Eastern Michigan University in 1979 before the birth of their son, Alexander, and later a second daughter, Amanda.

Pat loved horses her whole life and in 1981 she followed that passion and bought a farm west of Ann Arbor. The farm was home to numerous well-loved horses and ponies, which she and her children rode and drove in the countryside around their home. She became an accomplished equestrian and volunteered as a leader with 4-H, passing along her knowledge and love of horsemanship. She was a devoted, compassionate, and inspiring mother for her children. As the brains of the family, she was never stumped by her children’s homework. She loved to attend her children’s (and later her grandchildren’s) performances and competitions. As her children grew up, she volunteered in the local schools as a classroom aide for students with special needs. Over her life, she grew in her Christian faith. One of the great accomplishments of her life was completing the rigorous, four-year Comprehensive Biblical Studies program of the Catholic Biblical School of Michigan. She was a member of Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church of Harbor Springs and, before that, of St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic Church of Ann Arbor. In 2017, Neil and Pat retired and moved to Birchwood Farms in Harbor Springs, where they enjoyed golfing, dining, skiing, and sitting together by the fire.

Pat is preceded in death by her parents and her brother Sebastian. She is survived by her loving husband Neil, her brothers Anthony and John, and her children Elizabeth (David) Ostrovetz, Alexander (Emily) Loney, Amanda (Andrew) Whiting, and her six grandchildren, Audra, Hope, and Neil Loney, and Edward, Thomas, and Margaret Whiting—to whom she will always be known as Nuna, as a testament to her Sicilian heritage.

The family would like to thank Hospice of Michigan, Jennie Highland, and her other caregivers and neighbors for the generous support through a long illness.

A visitation will be held Sunday, December 21 from 4–6 PM at Schiller Funeral Home in Harbor Springs. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday, December 22 at 11 AM at the Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church in Harbor Springs, followed by a reception in the parish hall. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Little Traverse Humane Society, the Lewy Body Dementia Foundation, and the Holy Childhood of Jesus Catholic Church.

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