Dr. McIlrath's Retirement and Legacy

Title: Dr. Patricia McIlrath and an Unidentified Baby
Creator: (unknown)
Date: August 20, 1983
Subject: Springfield, Missouri; McIlrath, Patricia (1917-1999)
Description: Dr. Patricia McIlrath sits on a bed, leaning over an infant who is laying on the bed.
Publisher: n/a
Type: Photograph
Coverage: Springfield, Missouri
Source: n/a
Rights: Copyright Not Evaluated

Title: Dr. Patricia McIlrath and an Unidentified Woman
Creator: (unknown)
Date: (unknown)
Subject: McIlrath, Patricia (1917-1999)
Description: Dr. Patricia McIlrath poses with another woman. A crucifix, pews, and candles are visible behind them.
Publisher: n/a
Type: Photograph
Coverage: (unknown)
Source: n/a
Rights: Copyright Not Evaluated

Title: Dr. Patricia McIlrath and Tristan Graham Londre
Creator: Londre, Felicia (1941- )
Date: August 25, 1996
Subject: McIlrath, Patricia (1917-1999); Londre, Tristan Graham (1996- )
Description: An elderly woman, Dr. Patricia McIlrath, sits on a couch with a toddler, Tristan Graham Londre. McIlrath has an arm around Londre and is reading him a book.
Publisher: n/a
Type: Photograph
Coverage: Kansas City, Missouri
Source: n/a

After a very long and successful career, Dr. McIlrath retired in 1985 at age 68.
She received a multitude of cards and congratulations from friends, colleagues, and former students. Dr. McIlrath wrote that she was “submerged with letters, gifts, and cards which both tore at (her) heart and at the same time sent (her) spirits soaring”.
The trustees of the William B. Moorhead Memorial Trust created a scholarship in Dr. McIlrath’s name to help support theater education at UMKC, and for years afterward Dr. McIlrath received cards and letters from scholarship recipients.
Dr. McIlrath helped select her successor at the Missouri Repertory Theater, George Keathley, and continued to influence operations at MRT and the UMKC theater department. She didn’t always agree with the choices of the new MRT leaders! In 1991, the MRT discontinued their touring program, and Dr. McIlrath wrote a passionate letter advocating for keeping the program.
Similarly, when a MRT production of Antigone received a negative review in the Kansas City Star in 1996, Dr. McIlrath wrote a letter to the editor in the production’s defense.
Dr. McIlrath also worked on writing a book about the history of the Missouri Repertory theater, which she unfortunately never completed.
She also attended UMKC academic productions and MRT productions regularly.
Dr. McIlrath passed away in 1999 at age 82. She left a legacy of creativity, professionalism, and kindness which continues to the present day.