Patrick H. “Pat” Milligan was born and raised in Sidney. He graduated from Sidney High School in 1946, where among many other academic and non-academic pursuits, he enjoyed several stellar basketball seasons with the Yellow Jackets.
He attended the College of Wooster, where he had an outstanding academic and athletic career, and where he met his wife of 62 years Carol (Benson) Milligan. He was inducted into the Wooster Athletic Hall of Fame for his accomplishments on the hardwood. Decades later, Pat also served on the Wooster Board of Trustees as an alumni representative.
Following college, Pat joined the U.S. Army and served in the Counterintelligence Corps in Korea during the Korean Conflict.
Following his army service, Pat moved back to Sidney where he and Carol raised their three children, Beth, Tom and Sarah and where he went into the road construction business started in the 1920s by his grandfather F.E. Milligan and father William Milligan. Pat co-owned and operated Milligan Construction Inc and Sidney Sand and Gravel with his brother Sam. After Sam died unexpectedly in 1987, Pat continued to operate these businesses and their later iterations with his son Tom, in a career that spanned 40 years.
Pat’s real legacy, however, is one of service. If there was a need in the community or an opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of the residents of Sidney, Pat was there. A natural leader, Pat was called to serve on the boards of many non-profit organizations, including Wilson Memorial Hospital (now Wilson Health), the Sidney-Shelby County Chamber of Commerce, the West Ohio Development Council (now the Sidney-Shelby County Economic Partnership), and the First Presbyterian Church. He was a long-time Board member and former Board Chair of Dorothy Love Retirement Community and its statewide parent organization, Ohio Presbyterian Homes (now Ohio Living).
As a member of the Board of Directors of the Community Foundation of Shelby County in the late 1990s, Pat helped to ensure its future in benefitting the residents of Shelby County by advising against a merger with a similar foundation in Troy. He supported hiring local staff to operate and grow the foundation. Today, the Community Foundation of Shelby County has a $35 million endowment that annually supports dozens of organizations serving Shelby County. Pat received the Chamber of Commerce Zenith Award for Outstanding service to the community in 1997 and was inducted to the Sidney City Schools Hall of Honor in 1999.
A true champion for Sidney, Pat was a mentor and friend to many business leaders and members of the community. He was generous, kind, and always there to lend a helping hand or word of encouragement.