Priest was blessed by the written word

Patrick Crudden with his wife Bev.

Patrick Francis Crudden
Born: 17 February 1929
Died: 26 June 2017

A service was held at St Brendan’s Catholic Church on Friday 30 June “to celebrate the life of an extraordinary and gentle man, Patrick, Pat, Paddy and Pa,” said Francis Crudden’s family.
Mr Crudden was born in Drouin and his family grew up in Tynong.
They were described as being “closely connected through church, football and growing spuds” by lifelong friend Jack Cunningham.
“They loved to meet together and tell stories about the humorous deeds of their families, of their relations, their friends and their ancestors.
“Pat inherited this wondrous gift of storytelling, although his stories were much closer to the truth than most,” Mr Cunningham said.
Mr Crudden has been described by friends and family as a man who was quietly spoken, intelligent and kind-hearted, a story-teller and an excellent sportsman.
“Pat would have been an AFL player if he had not joined the priesthood,” said a contemporary of Mr Crudden.
Mr Crudden led a rich and interesting life, leaving Tynong State School to go on to the Werribee Seminary to be trained for the priesthood.
He then trained to be a primary school teacher and afterwards received a scholarship to a university in Belgium where he studied modern changes in education, particularly in Catholic education.
After a long career, Mr Crudden retired from the priesthood to marry Bev, the love of his life.
The couple then moved to Shepparton to be close to family, where they were active members of the community.
Journalist and friend Robert Mclean wrote a piece dedicated to the late Mr Crudden, describing him as “a stalwart of Shepparton’s literary scene, a gentle yet sweeping knowledge, a man who helped to make Shepparton an intellectually richer place”.
While living there, Mr Crudden created the Country Festival of Writing and was a member of the Goulbourn Valley Writers Group of which he was then the president.
“Patrick was a thinker, a man of the word who loved and told a good story, seemed to enjoy all forms of writing, whether poetry or prose, fact or fiction, and just last week, with the final chapter written, the book of his life was closed,” wrote Mr Mclean.
Mr Crudden was the grandson of a German settler at Bunyip South who was among the first settlers who came from Melbourne when the swamp was drained.
He will be forever remembered and dearly missed by family and friends.