Dearest Mr. Vigil, Joe ("Little Joseph") and Family:
I share in your heartache ... Mrs. Vigil ("Miss Pat") was my S.P.S. English teacher, Saint Paul's Summer Camp colleague, for several summers, and one half of the duo of "Vigil Teachers" I was BLESSED to have as English and Spanish Instructors ... both mentors who welcomed me into their home for dinners, friendship, "family" and most importantly, were the first to welcome back a grieving 15 year old kid, who had just lost his father. I will forever hold both Mr. and Mrs. Vigil close to my heart. We all "know" that we only have but this moment in time, yet somehow we believe we will all live to see another day, have another dinner, reminisce, and make some new memories. So many of our Saint Paul's family we have lost this year, the loss of "Miss Pat" hits home. It was with admiration, and often times an open inquisition, in which I and my classmates would question, in the spirit of fun, both Mr. and Mrs. Vigil, "how they met" ... "under what circumstances", given their former positions in the Church; both, with much humor, would assail the questions of teenage ribbing with class and grace, endearing us all the more to them; as the openly affectionate former nun and brother, who had found love in each other, as husband and wife; we were blessed to have been witness to such enduring joy; always hand in hand, or a head on her husband's shoulder. "Little Joseph", now Dr. Vigil, was, and remains the testament of such the love story. The Vigil's love, luminous... the kind of love every person hopes to attain; two lives blessed by the other.
Mr. Vigil, thank you for sharing Mrs. Vigil with us, your collective Saint Paul's students; with me, for the love, compassion and friendship, when I most needed an extended family, you and "Miss Pat" naturally stepped forward. I am out of town, or I would have been there to share with you and your family; please know I was, and I am with you in Spirit. I believe it to be part of the human experience, when a person who is as vibrant, as full of life as "Miss Pat" was, we naturally expect that bright light to never fade, nor extinguish. It is in our Spiritual life, that the vibrancy, the light, and joy of Pat Vigil lives on through her family, her friends, the love of her life - Mr. Vigil, and certainly this Saint Paul's alumnus, who's life is the richer for her Spiritual gifts.
With love,
Christian Phillip Wagner, III ("Phil")
Saint Paul's School Class of 1979
