I was surprised this evening to read the blog about John Patrick! I had just gotten off the phone talking to my mother about the Patrick's this evening.

I was born in Everett in 1938. My parents were personal friends with Jim and Nadine Patrick. Jim was John Patrick's brother.

Jim Patrick ran a small printing business on a steep side-street in Everett, south off Hewitt Ave. I went to high school with Dick Patrick, Jim's son. Dick had a attractive sister, Carol, who married a guy with the last name of 'Turnipseed'; not sure where they live now.

John and Jim Patrick's mother was a published poet with a repected reputation in Snohomish County in the 1920-30's. So far I have been unable to find any of her work.

My folks met the Patrick's through my Dad's sister Violet Wold (deceased). It was Nadine Patrick, Jim's wife, who taught my Mother, Florence, how to drive in Everett.

We used to visit Jim and Nadine Patrick's house on north Oaks Street in Everett during the 1940' and early '50's. The Patricks had about the first TV set in Everett. I was amazed to watch the Channel 5 indian test pattern until the 'Lux Playhouse' program came on for one hour in the evening.

I had met John Patrick a couple times. Once at his cluttered house in Snohomish and at his brother's print shop in Everett. I remember John Patrick's messy old fashion gootee beard and sort of a wild demeanor and manner of speaking in 'staccotto' phrases. I remember everything John Patrick said seem to have an 'edge' to it, like a finger to the eye. He was a dower man with no discernible humor. I heard his reputation around Snohomish and Olympia from my folks and often saw his name on the ballot running for high office. I knew John Patrick had written a couple books when a younger man: 'Yankee Hobo in the Orient' and ibid 'Don't Let the Repairman Get You'.

Being an author in the 1940's meant being a celebrity of sorts and obviously very smart to write and be published. John Patrick was a smallish man, about 5' 6"-8" and small frame. I never knew a 'Bill' as a brother to John Patrick, only 'Jim' Patrick who lived in Everett. Jim Patrick ran unsucessfully for Snohomish County Finance Director in the mid 1950's. Jim had read Norman Vicent Peal's popular book 'The Power of Positive Thinking'. Jim Patrick was so sure he would be elected Finance Director that he went sort of 'strange' and withdrawn after the election defeat. Jim said the city fathers were in a conspiracy against him. After the election defeat, our parents never visited with the Patricks again. We used to be invited to their summer home on Lake Stevens.

I think that quirky 'Patrick' gene ran in the whole family. I remember my Dad, Lloyd Andersen (deceased) having a businessmen's lunch at the Turf Cafe/Bar one day in the early 1960's when Jim Patrick came in for coffee. My Dad offerred to buy Jim Patrick a cup of coffee. While chatting over coffee, my Dad noticed a 'burning smell' and heat on his side, then Dad discovered Jim Patrick had set his coat on fire! My Dad said, 'Why Jim you set my coat on fire!'....Jim just got up and walked away, never again seen by my Dad. After the coat burning epidsode, I thought Jim Patrick thought my Dad, a friend, was also against him in the election loss and that by setting my Dad's coat on fire was Jim's 'revenge'. Life in Everett.