Gallimaufry Gallery co-owner and LGBTQ ally Patricia Ann Rodarte Merkle died March 14 due to complications from multiple long-term illnesses. She was 74.
Rodarte Merkle was born Jan. 12, 1951 in Corpus Christi, Texas. At the age of five, her family moved to Chicago where she lived for the rest of her life. She graduated from Senn High School and took some post-high school classes.
Her first full-time job was at Grant Hospital as a ward secretary on the alcoholism unit. Rodarte Merkle’s interest in arts and crafts—one of the approved activities for the patients on their journey to recovery—began there.
At the same time, Rodarte Merkle met her future husband Michael Merkle through a mutual friend who knew that he would be able to help her further develop her skills in leather arts and crafts. The couple got married on Jan. 24, 1974, at the Second Unitarian Church of Chicago on Barry Street.
In 1975, the couple opened Gallimaufry Gallery focuses on handmade American crafts and international fair-trade items on North Halsted Street, next door to what would become Sidetrack, where they stayed for 28 years. They relocated to the Lincoln Square neighborhood on North Lincoln Ave. in 2003 where their gallery is currently celebrating 50 years in business.
At the outset, Gallimaufry Gallery was a place to sell their own crafts. Rodarte Merkle did knitting, weaving and leather work as well as macramé, which was very popular in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Merkle focused on creating sandals and other leather work as well as stained glass. About five years after their gallery opened, they included the works of many other local, national and international artists and craftsperson’s handmade wares.
Merkle said that their presence on North Halsted Street introduced them to the LGBTQ+ community with whom they embraced. They became founding members of the Northalsted Area Merchants Association and helped lead the efforts for the Northalsted Market Days in its early years. The couple championed LGBTQ+ equality for decades and celebrated their wins legislatively and in the courts.
Rodarte Merkle was preceded in death by her parents Margarito and Beatrice Rodarte, brother Michael Rodarte and sister Dorothy Rodarte. She is survived by Merkle, her sisters Barbara Hall and Doris (John) Stelmachowski, many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews.
Merkle said, “Pat was always thoughtful, creative, curious and hard working. She had a knack for creating a community of kindness. Pat loved her family and friends deeply and had a habit of endearing herself to people whom she had just met as they became new friends for life. Her love of life extended to inanimate objects, always naming things humorously. Pat referred to her walker as ‘Alice’ after the author. When she got a new smaller walker, it became ‘little Alice Walker.’ She genuinely enjoyed life and appreciated even the simplest of things. Pat loved going to hot springs, knitting and crocheting, drawing, cooking and collecting cookbooks and watching mysteries. She was very empathetic, sometimes in the retelling of a sad story which she had heard on the news, she would have to hold back tears as if it had happened to her. Her creative and calm energy that she shared with the world will be missed by me and everyone else she had in her life.”
Longtime friend and former Gallimaufry Gallery employee Bill Salvato said, “Pat was a joyful and generous person. She was truly filled with love for everyone, and especially her customers with whom she treated like family. I started working for them part-time after I retired from teaching as their ‘Monday man.’ It felt like my second home. When I first stepped into their North Halsted Street location years ago, I knew I would be supported as a gay man. Their friendship meant so much to me during a time when it was unpopular for straight people to be supportive of our LGBTQ community. She will always be in my heart.”
Longtime friend and former Gallimaufry Gallery employee Jason Keldsen said, “Pat was full of life and always joyful. We would often joke around and come up with silly nicknames for each other. She was always so giving and thoughtful of others. Pat was able to read people well and was very intuitive to their needs. I loved her so much. She was like another mother to me and sometimes customers would ask if we were mother and son, and that always made us laugh and acknowledge our bond with one another. I will miss her for the rest of my life.”
Longtime friend and store patron Kathy Munzer said, “Pat was always eager to greet you, as soon as you walked through Gallimaufry’s door, and [was] interested in how you were doing. She was kind and sociable and a big help in choosing gifts, for yourself or for others. Pat enjoyed engaging in conversation about community—whether about the Pride Parade, Northalsted Market Days, or back in the day, the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. Both she and her husband, Mike, always made everyone feel welcome, seen and heard. Pat and Mike were always thoughtful, gracious and supportive allies to the LGBTQ community.”
Longtime friend Lila Kuchma said, “The dear friend who accepted my renaming her ‘Patti’ was a sweetheart, in the sense that you grew to love her and all her fantastic stories and views of the world, never one to shy away from confrontation or an injustice. She was also surprisingly very tender and generous.
“While accepting how friendships grow, this one often had its base in the Gallimaufry where we could spend the infrequent quiet time in conversation or probably in a raucous form of joyful sharing of events. Recalling her generosity of time and physical effort toward a friend just bonded me closer to this couple, both equally were generous in sharing many home dinners and yard events. Patti was truly a lively interested friend in one’s activities and in the details of so much of what is happening in life. I would send her images of my cup of latte or coffee when I would be out, just to share that pleasure and have her there with me … and YES, she did enjoy her coffee.”
Merkle asks that in lieu of flowers, people should make donations to these organizations to honor his wife’s memory: Heifer International, Ukrainian National Women’s League of America and Nourishing Hope Food Pantry.
A celebration of life will take place in June. Details TBA.