An Extraordinary Life: Joliet real estate appraiser, teacher received Senate proclamation

Many couples have great memories of how they met and began dating, and Pat O’Hara of Joliet is no exception.

In the late 1970s, Pat was an analytical appraiser and owned three businesses, all appraisal-related, he said. His first appraisal company was called Analytical Appraisal Associates.

He liked Nan Zalar, who also was an analytical appraiser, and wanted to date her, but she told him, “I don’t date appraisers.”

About nine months later, Nan wanted to “go out on her own” as an appraiser (Nanette Zalar Associates), he said, and Pat had the necessary forms. So Pat invited her invited her to come down from her condo in Hoffman Estates to his condo in Marina City to pick them up.

“I called it a date,” Pat said. “But she called it a meeting.”

He remembers all this clearly because the Steve McQueen movie “Hunter” was being filmed near his condo at the time and Pat was taking photos of the occasion. Pat couldn’t see Nan, but he knew she was in the crowd, trying to navigate her way to the condo.

When Nan arrived, Pat invited her to dinner and told her that if getting back to her condo was too difficult, she was welcome to stay the night. Nan declined, but Pat gave her the key to his condo anyway.

“If you ever get another appraisal on the north side and don’t want to fight the rush hour traffic back to your place in Hoffman estates, just stop by and we’ll go out to dinner,” Pat recalled telling her.

So Nan accepted the key.

Weeks and months passed. Nan gave no indication she would change her mind. Then, one day, Pat woke up to find Nan sleeping beside him.

“She decided we were going to start dating,” Pat said.

Nan was born May 19, 1952, to Dr. Joseph A. Zalar and Enid Zalar and had four siblings. Nan attended St. Paul the Apostle School and Joliet West High School and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

From Joliet, back to Joliet

Nan became a real estate appraiser and received her Senior Residential Appraiser designation from the Society of Real Estate Appraisers (now a part of the Appraisal Institute) in 1988, becoming the second woman SRA in the Chicago chapter, Pat said.

She and Pat were married Aug. 21, 1982. They had two sons, Dr. Patrick A. O’Hara of Warrenville and Ryan O’Hara of Missouri, a risk analyst and evaluations for a commodities manager.

As a mother, Nan was “strict but caring,” Pat said.

Nan returned to college at age 50 and earned two master’s degrees, one in education and one in information and library science. She then taught at Joliet Central High School until 2013, retiring when she began having health issues, Pat said.

Pat also started a second career. He became a building inspector for the city of Joliet, he said.

Smart with attention to details

Tammy Pritchard, Nan’s caregiver and now Pat’s caregiver, said Nan was truly an extraordinary individual: funny, happy, modest and very detail-oriented. Nan did not want anyone to see her looking sick and vulnerable, Tammy said.

“If she wanted a drink, it was three ice cubes with a splash of orange juice,” Tammy said. “I’d ask, ‘Do you want the vodka in there?’ And she’d laugh and say, ‘No.’ When “I’d ask her what she wanted for lunch, ... she’d say, ‘I want a milk shake and french fries.’ For breakfast, she’d want three pieces of bacon. She knew what she wanted, I will say that.”

Tammy said Nan loved to golf and was somewhat of a wine connoisseur; she could name the wine after the smallest taste, Tammy said. Nan enjoyed fishing and went fishing with Pat and his family in Wisconsin. Pat has her “catch” mounted in their home, he said.

Pat said he and Nan helped care for Nan’s parents in Nan’s childhood home, keeping the Marina City condo as their weekend getaway. Nan and Pat moved into Nan’s childhood home after the death of her parents and ran their business – O’Hara and Zalar Inc. – from the house, Pat said.

“She was a very, very smart woman,” Tammy said. “Even after her strokes, she still did everything with her banking. She was very meticulous.”

Pat recently had to cut down a tree in the backyard that Nan’s father had planted and was glad Nan wasn’t alive to see it. Tammy said Nan really loved nature and pointed out plants that were special to her.

“She’d say, ‘My son gave me that’ or ‘That’s the tree that I jumped over when I was a little girl,’ ” Tammy said.

Tammy said that at first, Nan resisted having a music therapist come to her home. But Nan, who loved music, quickly warmed up to music therapy. Pat said that if music was playing when Nan was in the room, Nan would start singing or humming and tapping her foot.

Pat recalled the time he and Nan went to Caesar’s Palace. He doesn’t recall which performer they saw, but he does remember how the performer noticed Nan in the audience, singing along with him.

“He put the microphone in front of her,” Pat said.

Tammy said her two daughters, who are certified nurse assistants, also helped care for Nan. Tammy said Nan often gave them motherly pieces of wisdom, such as “finish your master’s degree and graduate; don’t worry about boyfriends.”

A sense of dignity to the end

Toward the end of her life, one of Nan’s brothers came to visit, Tammy said. By now, Nan was very weak, but she insisted that Tammy bring her to the table for the visit.

“It took every ounce of her strength,” Tammy said. “This was the last time she got out of bed.”

But that story shows the extent of Nan’s dignity, Tammy said.

“She did not want him to see her lying in bed,” Tammy said.

Nan was 68 when she died in June 2020 from a complication of one of the many strokes she’d suffered over the last few years. Nan is buried in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Joliet, which her grandfather helped develop, Pat said.

“My son Patrick was holding her hand when she passed,” Pat said.

Pat’s dining room table is now filled with Nan’s papers and other memorabilia. He calls it “my table of memories.” Pat is very proud that Nan received a proclamation from the U.S. Senate after her death.

Yet Pat does not feel Nan’s work is her legacy.

“It’s Patrick and Ryan, our sons,” Pat said.

• To feature someone in “An Extraordinary Life,” contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.