Patrick J. Mulvihill

Patrick J. Mulvihill, 70, of Bourbonnais, Illinois, died Wednesday, August 3, 2022 in Kankakee. Pat had an artist’s soul in a blue-collar world. He was a scholar, writer, painter, singer, songwriter, guitarist and an acolyte of Bob Dylan and Neil Young. But his main paying job was in a factory. Within months of seeing the Beatles on “The Ed Sullivan Show” when he was 11, he’d raised $35 for his first electric guitar. His parents, Vernon and Mildred, a railroad worker and nurse, kicked in the other half. Pat spent his life in and around Kankakee except for a short stint in college in Iowa, a few months after that in Denver and about a decade in Bloomington, Illinois. He worked for 16 years on the assembly line at an A.O. Smith water heater plant. He remembered writing lyrics on the job. After work the second shift ended he and the rest of the Buzz Band played midnight rock and roll sets at the Kankakee bar Angie's. Pat was laid off in the late 1980s, not long before the plant closed. But that created an opportunity nearly as life changing as hearing the Beatles: The company paid for him to go to college. He spent two years at Kankakee Community College before transferring to and then graduating from Illinois State University at 40 with a degree in English. He studied religion and the poetry of Maria Rainer Rilke and won a creative writing award. Because of health problems, he wasn’t able to work again. Later in life, he sometimes described himself as a hermit. Except for a brief marriage in his 20s and a few years of sharing a home with his sister Lynn, he lived with only a procession of cats who loved only him: UB, Layla, Mugs, Fishes, Buddha, Mama Cat and Joe. He also had a well-worn Gibson acoustic guitar that had a personality of its own. Despite a variety of struggles, including a lifetime as a White Sox fan and being unable to turn his head much for decades, he remained refreshingly unbitter, praising young musicians, artists and athletes and never giving “back in my day” rants. He often appreciated the genres of music he became familiar with blasting on car stereos in his mobile home park. He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Mike Mulvihill; and sister Lynn Houston. He is survived by his nephew Geoff Mulvihill of New Jersey and his family, as well as close friends Dave and Janice Wilken of Bourbonnais. Visitation will be held on Saturday, August 27, 2022 from 11am until the memorial service at 1pm at Jensen Funeral Home, Kankakee. Memorials may be made to the wishes of the family.