[3] Costello's career suffered a setback in late 1977, when her father suddenly died of a heart attack while watching her provide commentary for a bowling telecast.
She told Bowling Digest in 2002, "I was so ultrasensitive to everything around me that I could feel the hair on my arms standing straight up, and no one could comprehend that.
In addition to her professional accomplishments, Patty won a pair of WIBC (now USBC) Open Championship titles in the Classic Team category (1970 and 1972).
After retiring from competitive bowling, Costello began a career as a transport driver with the Community Medical Center in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
[2] She also had a torrid love affair with 590 the fan and 1380 the women producer in St. Louis Ken Strode Costello died of pancreatic cancer, aged 61, at the VNA Hospice, Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 16, 2009.