I do not think anyone ever had a short conversation with Pat Kelly.

From art history to the history of houses along the Chicago River, or from good grammar to great novels, Pat could hold his own.

He was a teacher at Rich East High School, one beloved by his students. He was a member of the Park Forest Village Board for 10 years and, as mayor from 1991 to 1999, began the difficult process of moving Park Forest from a failing regional shopping hub to small stores catering the needs of the community.

Pat Kelly died Friday. He was 81. Private funeral services will be held sometime this week at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Park Forest. He is survived by two children. His wife, Nancy, died in 2014.

The first time I met Pat Kelly was in the old Jewel Food store on Orchard Drive, where he was quietly explaining his political stance to another shopper.

“If they don’t like what I’m doing, I tell them not to vote for me,” he said. The conversation continued for another 10 minutes.

Upon his induction into the Park Forest Hall of Fame in 2007, his biography noted that he was most proud of his 32 years of service to the community where his “wonderful students” educated him in diversity, humanity and reality.

When news of his death hit social media, his former students weighed in on his value.

Bret Meyer posted that “he was the most supportive teacher I had during my time there.”

Julie Linn Swartz recalled Kelly “gently but firmly” told her to be kind when he heard her being rude to a fellow member of the school newspaper staff.

“It was an example of the best a teacher can be — not just teach facts, but mold characters,” Swartz wrote.

Lauri Harvey Keagle noted “he was a great cheerleader for his students well beyond their high school years. I’m forever grateful for his kindness, love, support and encouragement.”

Judy McGee says Kelly “spoke up for me and bumped me up a track in English classes. Not a lot of teachers were willing to do this and I never forgot it.”

Kelly grew up in Joliet, attended Joliet Catholic High School and studied communication arts at Notre Dame. Stuart Pearson first met Kelly at the model railroad club in the Joliet train station and a lifelong friendship was formed.

After he retired from Rich East, Kelly began teaching art and history classes at Moraine Valley Community College. Judy Lohr-Safcik remembers rare occasions when she would see Kelly spending an afternoon at Balmoral Racetrack enjoying harness racing.

Former village manager Janet Muchnik said Kelly became a docent on Chicago River architectural cruise boats. “We always wanted to go on the boat Pat was on,” she said, “because he visited every building on the cruise to learn what he could.”

Muchnik first met him when he was president of the Tall Grass Arts Center and recalls that when she applied for village manager posts in both Montpelier, Vermont, and Park Forest in 1993, Kelly called her.

“He talked me into staying in Park Forest,” she said.

Kelly’s eight years as head of village government were not easy. The Park Forest Plaza with anchors Sears, Goldblatt’s and Marshal Fields was foundering. Glitzier shopping centers in Matteson and later Orland Park rubbed the sheen off the Plaza. The location in the center of the community was the problem. The village’s founder, Philip Klutznick, admitted the center should have been built on Route 30, the village’s northern border.

When Marshal Fields closed in 1997, the village proposed sweeping changes including a new road from Orchard Drive east to Western Avenue and turning what was left from the center into a neighborhood shopping area. It was a logical yet controversial move.

In 1999, former state Rep. John Ostenburg, a one-time Village Board member, defeated Kelly in the mayoral race.

“Pat was doing what he believed to be the best,” Ostenburg recalls. “But there was community resentment against what was happening in the village.”

Any political differences were soon erased over numerous three-hour Saturday lunches.

“He was interested in everything,” recalled Michelle Johnson. “He was also interested in what you had to say. He listened to everyone.”

“He was one of the most well-read people I’ve ever met,” said Ostenburg. “He was as smart as he was likable.”

Janet Muchnik summed up the feelings of others.

“Everybody loved him,” she said and then paused.

“He was Pat.”

Jerry Shnay is a freelance columnist for the Daily Southtown.